IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jechis/v81y2021i2p481-512_5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

More Power to the People: Electricity Adoption, Technological Change, and Labor Conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Molinder, Jakob
  • Karlsson, Tobias
  • Enflo, Kerstin

Abstract

Will technical change spur conflicts in the labor market? In this study, we examine electricity adoption in Sweden during the first decades of the twentieth century. Exploiting that proximity to hydropowered plants shaped the electricity network independently of previous local conditions, we estimate the impact of electricity on labor strikes. Our results indicate that electricity adoption preceded an increase in conflicts, but strikes were of an offensive nature and most common in sectors with increasing labor demand. This suggests that electrification provided workers with a stronger bargaining position from which they could voice their claims.

Suggested Citation

  • Molinder, Jakob & Karlsson, Tobias & Enflo, Kerstin, 2021. "More Power to the People: Electricity Adoption, Technological Change, and Labor Conflict," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(2), pages 481-512, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:81:y:2021:i:2:p:481-512_5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022050721000127/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. Jason Lennard, 2023. "Sticky wages and the Great Depression: evidence from the United Kingdom," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 27(2), pages 196-222.
    2. Molinder, Jakob & Karlsson, Tobias & Enflo, Kerstin, 2022. "Social democracy and the decline of strikes," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Sezer, Ayse Hazal, 2023. "Convicts and Comrades : Coerced Labor’s Impact on Early Labor Unions," Other publications TiSEM 98f91e6a-8e47-4c1f-bc84-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Toon Van Overbeke, 2023. "Conflict or cooperation? Exploring the relationship between cooperative institutions and robotisation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 550-573, September.

    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:81:y:2021:i:2:p:481-512_5. 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.