Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2012
ISSN
0022-0507
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Language
en-US
Abstract
How much of the rapid growth in labor productivity in nineteenth century cotton weaving arose from capital-labor substitution and how much from technical change? Using an engineering production function and detailed information on inventions, I find that factor substitution accounts for little growth. However, much of the growth and most of the apparent labor-saving bias arose not from inventions, but from improved labor quality — better workers spent less time monitoring the looms. The inventions themselves were almost technically neutral because innovations in general purpose technologies were capital-saving. Labor quality played a critical role in the persistent association between economic growth and capital deepening in this important sector.
Recommended Citation
James Bessen,
More Machines, Better Machines...Or Better Workers?
,
in
71
The Journal of Economic History
44
(2012).
Available at:
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050711002439
