If you have a good internet connection here is a long [c. 1 hour] video clip of a lecture on why the industrial revolution occurred in GB and not China, France, etc. Food for thought in that the wages were higher in GB at the time, not lower than most other countries. Also considerable effect from the price of energy, in this case coal v. wood.
Unka' George [George McDuffee]
------------------------------------------- He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).