Cliometrics of Cotton

This chapter will describe cliometricians’ contributions to the modern cotton textile industry. It will not be an exhaustive discussion of the literature of even this subset of the topic of “cotton,” which is vast, and includes cotton the plant, the early artisanal cotton textile industry, as well as the modern industry, which is represented in virtually all countries of the world. The chapter will focus on just three of the areas important for cliometrics. The first and most fundamental issue is why the modern industry began in England in the mid-eighteenth century. Equally interesting is why was England able to remain the dominant world exporterCottondominant world exporter of cotton goods until 1913 even though the industry had already spread widely. The chapter will examine this question in the two directions the cliometrics discussion has covered. One research path focuses on why England ultimately lost the market. The other path tries to identify what postponed England’s ultimate decline as an exporter. The final topic the chapter covers stems from the second topic. Because there were large industries in virtually every country by the early twentieth century, the cotton textile industry provides a rich laboratory to study entrepreneurism.