Lesson test: Why Britain

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Why Britain

1.[2p]
What is the common signature of the machines invented in Britain in this period?

They saved labour and consumed large quantities of fuel

Correct

They saved fuel and required more workers

The answer is: They saved labour and consumed large quantities of fuel

They saved both labour and fuel in equal measure

The answer is: They saved labour and consumed large quantities of fuel

They were labour-intensive but produced higher quality goods

The answer is: They saved labour and consumed large quantities of fuel

2.[2p]
A machine costs £70 and replaces two spinners earning £10 a year each. What is the annual rate of return on buying it, in per cent?

CorrectNot quite: 28.6

3.[2p]
The same £70 machine replaces two spinners earning £2 a year each. What is the rate of return now, in per cent?

CorrectNot quite: 5.7

4.[3p]
Match each explanation to the historian most associated with it.

High wages and cheap coal
The Industrial Enlightenment
Credible commitment after 1688
Coal and ghost acreage

Joel Mokyr
Kenneth Pomeranz
Robert Allen
Douglass North

Show the answer

High wages and cheap coal: Robert Allen The Industrial Enlightenment: Joel Mokyr Credible commitment after 1688: Douglass North Coal and ghost acreage: Kenneth Pomeranz

5.[3p]
Why is the Netherlands a useful test case?

It had the institutions, wages and knowledge but not the cheap energy, and did not industrialise

Correct

It industrialised earlier than Britain but has been forgotten

The answer is: It had the institutions, wages and knowledge but not the cheap energy, and did not industrialise

It had no overseas empire, unlike Britain

The answer is: It had the institutions, wages and knowledge but not the cheap energy, and did not industrialise

Its wages were the lowest in Europe

The answer is: It had the institutions, wages and knowledge but not the cheap energy, and did not industrialise

6.[2p]
North and Weingast point to the fall in the interest rate on British government debt as evidence that the 1688 settlement made the state a credible borrower.

True

Correct

False

The answer is: True

7.[3p]
Which of these are given as difficulties for the institutional explanation?

Select all that apply

The institutional changes come decades before the machinery

Correct

The Dutch Republic had comparable protections earlier and did not industrialise

Correct

Patents cost around £100, so most invention happened outside the system

Correct

Property rights in Britain were in fact weaker than in France

The answer is: The institutional changes come decades before the machinery, The Dutch Republic had comparable protections earlier and did not industrialise, Patents cost around £100, so most invention happened outside the system

8.[2p]
Pomeranz's phrase "ghost acreage" refers to what?

Land overseas whose output Britain used without owning or farming it

Correct

Enclosed common land left deliberately uncultivated

The answer is: Land overseas whose output Britain used without owning or farming it

Acreage lost to coal mining subsidence

The answer is: Land overseas whose output Britain used without owning or farming it

Land whose yields were exaggerated in the enclosure surveys

The answer is: Land overseas whose output Britain used without owning or farming it

9.[3p]
What does the lesson conclude about how the four explanations fit together?

Institutions and knowledge are permissive conditions; prices explain the direction and timing

Correct

Only the price explanation has any evidence behind it

The answer is: Institutions and knowledge are permissive conditions; prices explain the direction and timing

The four are mutually exclusive and historians must choose one

The answer is: Institutions and knowledge are permissive conditions; prices explain the direction and timing

Institutions explain the timing and prices explain nothing

The answer is: Institutions and knowledge are permissive conditions; prices explain the direction and timing

1.[2p] What is the common signature of the machines invented in Britain in this period?

2.[2p] A machine costs £70 and replaces two spinners earning £10 a year each. What is the annual rate of return on buying it, in per cent?

3.[2p] The same £70 machine replaces two spinners earning £2 a year each. What is the rate of return now, in per cent?

4.[3p] Match each explanation to the historian most associated with it.

5.[3p] Why is the Netherlands a useful test case?

6.[2p] North and Weingast point to the fall in the interest rate on British government debt as evidence that the 1688 settlement made the state a credible borrower.

7.[3p] Which of these are given as difficulties for the institutional explanation?

8.[2p] Pomeranz's phrase "ghost acreage" refers to what?

9.[3p] What does the lesson conclude about how the four explanations fit together?

1.[2p]
What is the common signature of the machines invented in Britain in this period?

2.[2p]
A machine costs £70 and replaces two spinners earning £10 a year each. What is the annual rate of return on buying it, in per cent?

3.[2p]
The same £70 machine replaces two spinners earning £2 a year each. What is the rate of return now, in per cent?

4.[3p]
Match each explanation to the historian most associated with it.

5.[3p]
Why is the Netherlands a useful test case?

6.[2p]
North and Weingast point to the fall in the interest rate on British government debt as evidence that the 1688 settlement made the state a credible borrower.

7.[3p]
Which of these are given as difficulties for the institutional explanation?

8.[2p]
Pomeranz's phrase "ghost acreage" refers to what?

9.[3p]
What does the lesson conclude about how the four explanations fit together?