The Location of the UK Cotton Textiles Industry in 1838: A Quantitative Analysis

Nicholas Crafts and Nikolaus Wolf

The Journal of Economic History, 2014, vol. 74, issue 4, 1103-1139

Abstract: We examine the geography of cotton textiles in Britain in 1838 to test claims about why the industry came to be so heavily concentrated in Lancashire. Our analysis considers both first and second nature aspects of geography including the availability of water power, humidity, coal prices, market access, and sunk costs. We show that some of these characteristics have substantial explanatory power. Moreover, we exploit the change from water to steam power to show that the persistent effect of first nature characteristics on industry location can be explained by a combination of sunk costs and agglomeration effects.

Date: 2014
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Working Paper: The Location of the UK Cotton Textiles Industry in 1838: a Quantitative Analysis (2013)
Working Paper: The Location of the UK Cotton Textiles Industry in 1838: a Quantitative Analysis (2013)
Working Paper: The Location of the UK Cotton Textiles Industry in 1838: a Quantitative Analysis (2013)
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