The Hidden Cause of the Industrial Revolution (with Ben Southwood)

Podcast: EconTalk (LS 69 · TOP 0.05% what is this?)Episode: The Hidden Cause of the Industrial Revolution (with Ben Southwood)Pub date: 2026-08-17Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationWhat if the Industrial Revolution wasn't sparked by the steam engine, but by a quiet legal revolution in how England handled property rights? Ben Southwood of Works in Progress argues that the Glorious Revolution of the 1680s unleashed British growth by empowering a Parliament composed of landowners who simplified their own tangled, inefficient property rights. Through thousands of case-by-case acts, they freed up land for investment, consolidated inefficient farm ownership, and enabled a boom in privately-built roads, canals, and navigable rivers that created national markets. Along the way you'll learn why roads once moved at 1.5 miles per hour, and how these centuries-old lessons about buying off holdouts might solve today's housing and infrastructure gridlock.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Russ Roberts, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.