The role of skills and human capital during England's Industrial Revolution is the subject of an old but still ongoing debate. This paper contributes to the debate by assessing the artisanal skills of watchmakers and watch tool makers in southwest Lancashire in the eighteenth century and their...

Introduction -- Shortages and strikes, 1945-1948 -- The era of "The treaty of Detroit," 1949-1950 -- No longer the arsenal of democracy, 1951-1952 -- A post-Korean War boom, 1953 -- A "painfully inconvenient" recession, 1954 -- The fifties in one year, 1955 -- "A severe and prolonged hangover,"...