Labour-Friendly Steam Power: Evidence from 19th-Century France

Leonardo Ridolfi (), Carla Salvo () and Jacob Weisdorf ()

Department of Economics University of Siena from Department of Economics, University of Siena

Abstract: This study examines the two earliest national industrial censuses from mid-nineteenthcentury France and finds that the adoption of steam power was associated with both job creation and wage growth. To identify causal effects, we exploit plausibly exogenous variation in sectoral complementarity with steam technology and in local energy-cost incentives to substitute steam for water power. The results contrast prevailing views that early mechanisation displaced workers and suppressed pay

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: 2026-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-lma
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:usi:wpaper:944

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