Market Services and the Productivity Race, 1850–2000: British Performance in International Perspective

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Cambridge University Press, Oct 26, 2006 - History
Now that services account for such a dominant part of economic activity, it has become apparent that achieving high levels of productivity in the economy requires high levels of productivity in services. This book offers a major reassessment of Britain's comparative productivity performance over the last 150 years. Whereas in the mid-nineteenth century Britain had higher productivity than the United States and Germany, by 1990 both countries had overtaken Britain. The key to achieving high productivity was the 'industrialisation' of market services, which involved both the serving of business and the provision of mass-market consumer services in a more business like fashion. Comparative productivity varied with the uneven spread of industrialised service sector provision across sectors. Stephen Broadberry provides a quantitative overview of these trends, together with a qualitative account of developments within individual sectors, including shipping, railways, road and air transport, telecommunications, wholesale and retail distribution, banking, and finance.
 

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Contents

I
1
II
2
III
5
IV
9
V
15
VI
19
VII
21
VIII
23
XXIX
127
XXX
129
XXXI
137
XXXII
142
XXXIII
147
XXXIV
150
XXXV
173
XXXVI
191

IX
26
X
27
XI
28
XII
31
XIII
32
XIV
35
XV
36
XVI
46
XVII
52
XVIII
53
XIX
81
XX
83
XXI
87
XXII
90
XXIII
96
XXIV
106
XXV
107
XXVI
108
XXVII
114
XXVIII
124
XXXVII
214
XXXVIII
216
XXXIX
220
XL
245
XLI
259
XLII
278
XLIII
281
XLIV
284
XLV
319
XLVI
332
XLVII
353
XLVIII
357
XLIX
358
L
361
LI
365
LII
368
LIII
369
LIV
370
LV
371
LVI
374

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