Economic History

During the nineteenth century Great Britain was one the major foreign lenders of capital to countries in Europe, Asia, and Americas. While in the late 1820s most of the British investments were concentrated in the North America, in 1860-1870 Empire countries became the major recipient of British capital. India was the most absorbing region of British funds, there Britain invested £95m. in railways between 1845 and 1875. After 1870 about one half of British investments concentrated in Empire …

…exploiting new at that time techniques, many economists argue that it was not restrictions or overseas capital embargoes that were the prevailing method for encouraging domestic, scientifically based industry; but it was tariffs and publicly supported general and technical education (Michael Edelstein, 196). References: R. Floud and D. McCloskey, Econimic History of Britain Since 1700, chapter 7, pp173-196 (Michael Edelstein) A.G. Kenwood and A.L. Lougheed, The Growth of the International Economy 1920-1990, chapter 2, pp25-38.