1) Urbanization: By industrial revolution migrations started from rural areas to the urban areas. So new economic incomes appeared apart from agriculture.
2) Steam Engine: In my opinion it was the most important invention during the industrial revolution. It was appeared in 1698 and people improved it in further years. People were able to transport wood, fur and coal by these trains. Also this steam engine used in ships, thus they became faster and more efficient.
3) Isaac Newton: Newton was British and lived in that Industrial Revolution time period. He was a scientist that had different scientific laws that we still use. If we talk about importance of him in Industrial Revolution, he was actually the main actor. Since science had great importance to generate something. He provided intellectual basis for Britain society. This explains why Britain was the first in IR.
A) According to Bekar and Lipsey, what are the main reasons for the Industrial Revolution to have taken place first in England (and more generally, in Europe) and not elsewhere?
First of all we need to understand the Industrial Revolution to answer that question. Although many economic historians think science was not the main thing to develop Industrial Revolution, it was. According to Bekar and Lipsey scientific developments led the way to Industrial revolution. They were linked 2 things in that time. Thus scholars were really effective in these years like Newton. He was British, and had different scientific laws. Thanks to him, British Society gained large-scale intellectual basis for the British Industrial Revolution. Newton’s possession in British society was great chance for British people. By his scientific developments Industrial Revolution happened in England significantly.
Secondly, British society was interested in Early Modern Science. They were paying more attention from any other countries. Attitude of
References: 1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/20979973 2) http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture17a.html 3) http://history-world.org/Industrial%20Intro.htm