The population of non-corporate business proprietors in England and Wales 1891–1911

Robert Bennett, Harry Smith and Piero Montebruno

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This article uses population censuses to provide the first consistent counts of the population of business proprietors for 1891–1911. After appropriate adjustments for imperfect Census design the article confirms the persistence of own account self-employed as the most common businesses throughout the period. However, it identifies a turning point around 1901 when the business numbers decisively shifted towards larger firms, where employers with waged workers began substituting for many own account businesses. Developments were, however, multi-faceted, with important sector differences, and some fields of female business beginning to take off over the period, especially in retail and the professions.

Keywords: business proprietors; self-employed; employers; sector change; gender; female entrepreneurship; Census; family firms; sole proprietors; professions; maker-dealers; retail; manufacturers; mining; farmers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 N0 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2020-11-16
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Business History, 16, November, 2020, 62(8), pp. 1341 - 1372. ISSN: 0007-6791

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/109850/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Population of Non-corporate Business Proprietors in England and Wales 1891–1911 (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:109850

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