How substitutable are fixed factors in production? evidence from pre-industrial England

Joshua Wilde ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Whether fixed factors such as land constrain per-capita income growth depends crucially on two variables: the substitutability of fixed factors in production, and the extent to which innovation is biased towards land-saving technologies. This paper attempts to quantify both. Using the timing of plague epidemics as an instrument for labor supply, I estimate the elasticity of substitution between fixed and non-fixed factors in pre-industrial England to be significantly less than one. In addition, I find evidence that denser populations – and hence higher land scarcity – induced innovation towards land-saving technologies.

Keywords: Land; Industrial Revolution; Induced Innovation; Fixed Factors; Substitutability; Population; England; Plagues (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 N13 Q24 N53 E10 N33 Q15 O31 O4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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Date: 2012-06
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http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/39278/ original version (application/pdf)
http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/39844/ revised version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: How Substitutable are Fixed Factors in Production? Evidence from Pre-industrial England (2013)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:39278

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