Rage against the Machines: Labor-Saving Technology and Unrest in Industrializing England

Bruno Caprettini and Hans-Joachim Voth

American Economic Review: Insights, 2020, vol. 2, issue 3, 305-20

Abstract: Can new technology cause social instability and unrest? We examine the famous "Captain Swing" riots in 1830s England. Newly collected data on threshing machine diffusion shows that labor-saving technology was associated with more riots. We instrument technology adoption with the share of heavy soils in a parish: IV estimates demonstrate that threshing machines were an important cause of unrest. Where alternative employment opportunities softened the blow of new technology, there was less rioting. Conversely, where enclosures had impoverished workers, the effect of threshing machines on rioting was amplified.

JEL-codes: J24 L16 N13 N33 N53 O33 Q16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Working Paper: Rage Against the Machines: Labor-Saving Technology and Unrest in Industrializing England (2017)
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DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20190385

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