The Effect of Mechanisation on Labour: Evidence from the Diffusion of Steam

Leonardo Ridolfi, Carla Salvo and Jacob Weisdorf
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Leonardo Ridolfi: University of Siena
Carla Salvo: Sapienza University of Rome

CAGE Online Working Paper Series from Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE)

Abstract: We use the two earliest industrial censuses from 19th-century France to investigate the impact on industrial labour of one of the largest waves of mechanisation in history, the diffusion of steam power. We establish using OLS and IV analyses that wages and employment both grew significantly more among steam-adopting industries compared to their non-adopting peers. Growth in total revenue was also significantly higher among steam adopters while labour’s share did not change significantly compared to nonadopters. These findings dispute the common view that the historical modernisation of industry set labour back in absolute terms or relative to capitalists.

Keywords: Capitalists; industrialisation; inequality; labour; mechanisation; productivity; technological progress; wages JEL Classification: I15; J42; J31; L92; O14; O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his and nep-lma
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cge:wacage:689

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