IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jechis/v39y1979i03p655-680_09.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cheap Labor and Southern Textiles before 1880

Author

Listed:
  • Wright, Gavin

Abstract

Labor costs historically have been decisive in determining the location of cotton textile production. Despite an apparent advantage in wage rates, however, the southern industry did not achieve sustained relative progress before about 1875. This study argues that in most times and places the region did not have “cheap labor†before this date. What matters is not just the level of wages in any year, but the quality of labor attracted at this wage and the geographic scope of the labor market within which firms operate. The scope of the labor market depends in turn on property rights and incentives toward recruitment activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Wright, Gavin, 1979. "Cheap Labor and Southern Textiles before 1880," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(3), pages 655-680, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:39:y:1979:i:03:p:655-680_09
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022050700092950/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Matsuyama, Kiminori, 1992. "Agricultural productivity, comparative advantage, and economic growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 317-334, December.
    2. Arnaud Daymard, 2020. "Agricultural Productivity as a Prerequisite of Industrialization: Some New Evidence on Trade Openness and Premature Deindustrialization," THEMA Working Papers 2020-07, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    3. Charles W. Calomiris & Christopher Hanes, 1994. "Historical Macroeconomics and American Macroeconomic History," NBER Working Papers 4935, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. G.A. Upali Wickramasinghe, 2017. "Fostering productivity in the rural and agricultural sector for inclusive growth in Asia and the Pacific," Asia-Pacific Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 24(2), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Mc Millan,Margaret & Rodrik,Dani & Sepulveda,Claudia Paz, 2017. "Structural change, fundamentals, and growth : a framework and case studies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8041, The World Bank.
    6. Paula Bustos & Bruno Caprettini & Jacopo Ponticelli, 2016. "Agricultural Productivity and Structural Transformation: Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(6), pages 1320-1365, June.
    7. Nicolas Ziebarth, 2013. "Are China and India Backwards? Evidence from the 19th Century U.S. Census of Manufactures," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(1), pages 86-99, January.
    8. Claudia Goldin & Kenneth Sokoloff, 1984. "The Relative Productivity Hypothesis of Industrialization: The American Case, 1820 to 1850," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 99(3), pages 461-487.
    9. Kiminori Matsuyama, 1991. "Increasing Returns, Industrialization, and Indeterminacy of Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 617-650.
    10. Mario F Carillo, 2021. "Agricultural Policy and Long-Run Development: Evidence from Mussolini's Battle for Grain," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(634), pages 566-597.
    11. repec:fip:feddar:y:2012:p:2-17 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Naomi R. Lamoreaux, 1991. "Information Problems and Banks' Specialization in Short-Term Commercial Lending: New England in the Nineteenth Century," NBER Chapters, in: Inside the Business Enterprise: Historical Perspectives on the Use of Information, pages 161-204, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Joshua L. Rosenbloom & William A. Sundstrom, 2009. "Labor-Market Regimes in U.S. Economic History," NBER Working Papers 15055, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Unjung Whang, 2017. "Structural Transformation and Comparative Advantage: Implications for Small Open Economies," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 743-763, April.
    15. McGowan, Danny & Vasilakis, Chrysovalantis, 2019. "Reap what you sow: Agricultural technology, urbanization and structural change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    16. Gangopadhyay, Kausik & Mondal, Debasis, 2021. "Productivity, relative sectoral prices, and total factor productivity: Theory and evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    17. Claudia Rei, 2014. "Comment on "Corporate Governance and the Development of Manufacturing Enterprises in Nineteenth-Century Massachusetts"," NBER Chapters, in: Enterprising America: Businesses, Banks, and Credit Markets in Historical Perspective, pages 102-106, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Janet Koech, 2012. "T-Shirt's Journey to Market," Annual Report, Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, pages 18-27.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:39:y:1979:i:03:p:655-680_09. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/jeh .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.