The decline of textile prices in England and British America prior to industrialization

Abstract

D espite high inflation, English textile prices did not rise, and in some cases fell substantially between the second half of the sixteenth and the early eighteenth century. We usually associate such drops in textile prices with mechanization and the factory system of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, not with the rural industries of the early modern period. Textile prices in the I3 colonies fell even more substantially between the later seventeenth and the later eighteenth century. The issue of price is important for a number of reasons, not the least being its impact upon material well-being. Lower prices for a particular good usually render it more affordable for consumers. On the other hand, a lower priced commodity can mean a poorer standard of living for the producers, if their income remains constant or falls, while the costs of other goods rise. Because textile workers represented a sizeable proportion of the manufacturing population during the early modern period, the impact of changing prices on their welfare must be considered.