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

Hans-Joachim Voth and Bruno Caprettini

No 11800, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

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 discusion 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 show that threshing machines were an important cause of unrest. Where alternative employment opportunities softened the blow of new technology, there was less rioting. In areas affected by the Swing riots in 1830-32, technology adoption and patenting rates slowed down for decades thereafter.

Keywords: Labor-saving technology; Social instability; Riots; Welfare support; Agricultural technology; Factor prices and technological change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J21 J43 N33 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Journal Article: Rage against the Machines: Labor-Saving Technology and Unrest in Industrializing England (2020)
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