Invisible Handshakes in Lancashire: Cotton Spinning in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

Michael Huberman

The Journal of Economic History, 1986, vol. 46, issue 4, 987-998

Abstract: In Lancashire cotton spinning in the heyday of laissez-faire capitalism the labor market did not operate as an auction market. Evidence on piece-rate flexibility, length of tenure, and seniority is consistent with Okun's contract approach. Both workers and firms incurred initial set-up costs. Workers wanted to protect their initial investments in training, and firms, faced with a labor supply that varied in reliability and regularity, had a desire to cover initial hiring and tryout costs. The need to maintain long-term attachments had implications for wage and employment adjustment and the age structure of the labor force.

Date: 1986
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