IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/restat/v101y2019i1p30-43.html

People and Machines: A Look at the Evolving Relationship between Capital and Skill in Manufacturing, 1860–1930, Using Immigration Shocks

Author

Listed:
  • Jeanne Lafortune

    (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and EH-Clio Lab UC)

  • Ethan Lewis

    (Dartmouth College and NBER)

  • José Tessada

    (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and EH-Clio Lab UC)

Abstract

This paper estimates the elasticity of substitution between capital and skill in manufacturing using immigration-induced variation in skill mix across U.S. counties between 1860 and 1930. We find that capital initially complemented both high- and low-skill labor (determined by literacy) and, unlike today, was more complementary with low-skill labor. Around 1890, capital increased its relative complementarity with high-skill labor. Simulations calibrated to our estimates imply the level of capital-skill complementarity after 1890 allowed the manufacturing sector to absorb the large wave of Eastern and Southern European immigrants with only a modest decline in less-skilled relative wages. This would not have been possible under the older production technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeanne Lafortune & Ethan Lewis & José Tessada, 2019. "People and Machines: A Look at the Evolving Relationship between Capital and Skill in Manufacturing, 1860–1930, Using Immigration Shocks," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(1), pages 30-43, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:101:y:2019:i:1:p:30-43
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/rest_a_00775
    Download Restriction: Access to PDF is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Xie, Bin, 2017. "The Effects of Immigration Quotas on Wages, the Great Black Migration, and Industrial Development," IZA Discussion Papers 11214, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Mette Foged & Linea Hasager & Vasil Yasenov, 2022. "The role of labor market institutions in the impact of immigration on wages and employment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(1), pages 164-213, January.
    3. Wei, Hao & Zhou, Yaru, 2023. "The impact of international talent on environmental pollution: Firm-level evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    4. Chatterjee, Santanu & Lebesmuehlbacher, Thomas & Narayanan, Abhinav, 2025. "Road infrastructure and skill premium: Evidence from Indian manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    5. Atack, Jeremy & Margo, Robert A. & Rhode, Paul W., 2024. "De-skilling: Evidence from late nineteenth century American manufacturing," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Charlotte Bartels & Felix Kersting & Nikolaus Wolf, 2021. "Testing Marx. Income inequality, concentration, and socialism in late 19th century Germany," Working Papers 0211, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    7. Uwe Blien & Oliver Ludewig & Anja Rossen, 2023. "Contradictory effects of technological change across developed countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 580-608, May.
    8. Youssef Benzarti & Jarkko Harju, 2021. "Using Payroll Tax Variation to Unpack the Black Box of Firm-Level Production," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(5), pages 2737-2764.
    9. Lewis, Ethan & Peri, Giovanni, 2015. "Immigration and the Economy of Cities and Regions," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 625-685, Elsevier.
    10. Ager, Philipp & Hansen, Casper Worm, 2017. "Closing Heaven's Door: Evidence from the 1920s U.S. Immigration Quota Acts," Discussion Papers on Economics 11/2017, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    11. Wu, Ziqi & Xiao, Yi & Zhang, Jian, 2022. "Labor mobility and corporate investment—Evidence from a Quasi-natural experiment in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1110-1129.
    12. Huang, Lulu & Zhang, Yuan & Zuo, Congmin, 2023. "City size and the employment of female migrant workers in the service sector: Evidence from urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    13. Javier Silvestre & John E. Murray, 2023. "Determinants in the adoption of a non-labor-substitution technology: mechanical ventilation in West Virginia coal mines, 1898–1907," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(3), pages 467-500, September.
    14. Alberto Alesina & Marco Tabellini, 2024. "The Political Effects of Immigration: Culture or Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 5-46, March.
    15. Morales, Juan S., 2018. "The impact of internal displacement on destination communities: Evidence from the Colombian conflict," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 132-150.
    16. Mann, Katja & Pozzoli, Dario, 2024. "Robots and immigration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    17. David Andersson & Mounir Karadja & Erik Prawitz, 2022. "Mass Migration and Technological Change," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(5), pages 1859-1896.
    18. Gray, Rowena & Montresor, Giulia & Wright, Greg C., 2020. "Processing immigration shocks: Firm responses on the innovation margin," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    19. Kirk Doran & Chungeun Yoon, 2019. "Immigration and Invention: Does Language Matter?," NBER Chapters, in: The Roles of Immigrants and Foreign Students in US Science, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, pages 123-145, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Eriksson, Katherine & Ward, Zachary, 2022. "Immigrants and cities during the age of mass migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    21. Xie, Bin, 2025. "The aggregate and distributional effects of immigration restrictions: The 1920s Quota Acts and the Great Black Migration," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 25-55.
    22. Burchardi, Konrad & Terry, Stephen & Chaney, Thomas & Tarquinio, Lisa & Hassan, Tarek, 2020. "Immigration, Innovation, and Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 14719, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    23. Michael A. Clemens, 2022. "Migration on the Rise, a Paradigm in Decline: The Last Half-Century of Global Mobility," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 112, pages 257-261, May.
    24. Ifft, Jennifer & Jodlowski, Margaret, 2022. "Is ICE freezing US agriculture? Farm-level adjustment to increased local immigration enforcement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • N61 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    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:tpr:restat:v:101:y:2019:i:1:p:30-43. 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: The MIT Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://direct.mit.edu/journals .

    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.