19世纪末,英国出现了相对衰落。无论在新兴产业还是夕阳产业,英国企业家对新兴技术均持消极态度,不愿将新技术应用到生产中。本研究探讨这一现象的制度根源。本文试图展示:英国的制度缺陷使其难以维系庞大的海外市场。在帝国体系内,英国的制度缺乏包容性,难以将殖民地的臣民吸纳为公民,致使殖民地离心力不断增长,帝国市场逐渐坍塌;在世界政治中,英国主导的国际经济秩序缺乏国际制度建设,难以约束新兴大国,使各大国间出现了以邻为壑的经济竞争。随着欧洲与美国市场纷纷关闭、殖民地相继独立,英国海外市场不断萎缩,英国企业家投资和采用新技术的意愿大大降低。这样的转变削弱了英国技术变迁的动力,也削弱了英国作为世界霸权的经济基础。 At the end of the 19th century, there was a relative decline in Britain. In both emerging and sunset industries, British entrepreneurs are negative about emerging technologies and are reluctant to apply new technologies to their production. This study explores the institutional roots of this phenomenon. This article attempts to show that the system defects in the United Kingdom make it difficult to maintain a large overseas market. In the imperial system, the British system lacks inclusiveness and can not absorb the colonial subjects as citizens. As a result, the centrifugal force in the colonies continues to grow and the market in the empire collapses gradually. In world politics, the British-dominated international economic order lacks the institutional building of the international community and is difficult to regulate Emerging powers have led to the emergence of economic competition between neighboring countries as a beggar-thy-neighbor. With the closure of markets in Europe and the United States, the succession of colonies in succession, the continuous dwindling of overseas markets in Britain, the willingness of British entrepreneurs to invest and adopt new technologies has been greatly reduced. Such a shift weakened the impetus for technology change in Britain and weakened the economic foundation for Britain as the world hegemony.