Work intensity and worker safety in early twentieth-century coal mining

William M. Boal

Explorations in Economic History, 2018, vol. 70, issue C, 132-149

Abstract: Why did coal mining remain so dangerous in the early twentieth century? Observers blamed miners for neglecting safety in their haste to load coal, for which they were paid on piece. Using a panel of about 500 coal mines, the elasticity of fatalities with respect to speed or intensity of work is estimated to be about one-half, implying a marginal cost of a statistical life to miners of about $400 thousand in 1921 dollars. This likely exceeded their value of a statistical life, so preventing accidents was expensive for miners. However, the union reduced fatalities with little effect on work intensity.

Keywords: Occupational safety; Coal industry; Unionism; UMWA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J5 J81 L7 N3 N5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:exehis:v:70:y:2018:i:c:p:132-149

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2018.08.001

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