ECON 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Second Industrial Revolution, Bessemer Process, Long Ton

• School: York University
• Department: Economics
• Course: ECON 1000
• Professor: Andrea Podhorsky

Document Summary

2)iron and steel: bessemer steel process developed in 1850. It was now possible to use steel for a wide range of products and applications which had been too expensive with previous methods: steel production increased from 250,000 tons in 1870 to five million tons in. 1914: the end of mercantilism, with the repeal of the navigation acts under robert peel"s government the. British moved away from colonial protection and introduced free trade which allowed for the importation of less expensive food and raw materials. 4)financial improvements: limited liability for companies instituted in 1856, size of firms increased. These changes allowed the creations of companies that could combine capital necessary for large projects while limiting the risk investors faced. Corporate structure also began to evolve as single proprietorships and partnerships gave way to more elaborate, and bureaucratic, managed companies. The impact of world war 1: enormous cost of war absorbed british capital at an unprecedented rate.