Away from Home and Back: Coordinating (Remote) Workers in 1800 and 2020

Reka Juhasz, Mara P. Squicciarini and Nico Voigtlander
Additional contact information
Reka Juhasz: Columbia, NBER and CEPR
Mara P. Squicciarini: Bocconi and CEPR
Nico Voigtlander: UCLA, NBER, and CEPR

CAGE Online Working Paper Series from Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE)

Abstract: This paper examines the future of remote work by drawing parallels between two contexts: The move from home to factory-based production during the Industrial Revolution and the shift to work from home today. Both are characterized by a similar trade-off: the potential productivity advantage of the new working arrangement made possible by technology (mechanization or ICT), versus organizational barriers such as coordinating workers. Using contemporary data, we show that organizational barriers seem to be present today. Without further technological or organizational innovations, remote work may not be here to stay just yet.

Keywords: Work from Home; Industrial Revolution; Coordination JEL Classification: F63; O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-ict
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https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/c ... tions/wp535.2021.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Away from Home and Back: Coordinating (Remote) Workers in 1800 and 2020 (2020)
Working Paper: Away from Home and Back: Coordinating (Remote) Workers in 1800 and 2020 (2020)
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