Protoindustrialization

‘Proto-industrialization’ is the name given to the massive Expansion of export-oriented handicrafts which took place in many parts of Europe between the 16th and the 19th centuries. An influential theory holds that these proto-industries generated the capital, labour, entrepreneurship, Agricultural commercialization, and consumer demand needed for factory industrialization. Protoindustrialization, it is argued, also transformed traditional economic mentalities and institutions. However, deeper empirical study has cast doubt on most of these claims. Theories of protoindustrialization have stimulated much excellent research, but do not explain the significant economic growth, demographic change, and institutional transformation that occurred in Europe before the Industrial Revolution.