The Glorious Revolution and the causes of the industrial revolution

10 hours ago

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England transferred power from the monarchy to Parliament, enabling legal reforms that untangled rigid property rights and spurred economic growth.
Post-revolution legislative productivity increased dramatically, with Parliament passing enclosure acts that consolidated fragmented farmland, improved agricultural yields, and facilitated infrastructure investments.
Parliament addressed restrictive inheritance laws (e.g., strict settlements and entails) through estate acts, allowing landowners to modernize property use, which supported industrial and urban development.
Infrastructure improvements, such as turnpike trusts and canal projects, drastically reduced transport costs, enabled regional specialization, and expanded markets, laying groundwork for the Industrial Revolution.
The reforms succeeded by working with landowners, requiring supermajority support for changes, and ensuring broad benefits, contrasting with top-down approaches in other European nations that faced resistance.
Modern parallels exist in 'vetocracy' and entrenched regulatory systems; similar collaborative, supermajority-based approaches in housing and land use (e.g., in East Asia and Israel) show the enduring relevance of these methods.

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