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Total factor productivity growth on Britain's railways, 1852-1912: a reappraisal of the evidence

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Listed:
  • Crafts, Nicholas
  • Mills, Terence C.
  • Mulatu, Abay

Abstract

This paper revisits the issue of the productivity performance of pre-World War I Britain’s railway system with an improved dataset and with modern time-series econometrics. We find a slowdown in TFP growth between 1850 and 1870, after which it stabilized at about 1.1%. An analysis of company-level productivity rejects the claims that there was a regulation-induced revival of productivity performance in the railway sector after 1900 but, on the other hand, it supports the claim that there was some managerial failure during the period.

Suggested Citation

  • Crafts, Nicholas & Mills, Terence C. & Mulatu, Abay, 2005. "Total factor productivity growth on Britain's railways, 1852-1912: a reappraisal of the evidence," Economic History Working Papers 22553, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:22553
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    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/22553/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Crafts, Nicholas & Mills, Terence C., 2004. "Was 19th century British growth steam-powered?: the climacteric revisited," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 156-171, April.
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    5. Mulatu, Abay & Crafts, Nicholas, 2005. "Efficiency among private railway companies in a weakly regulated system: the case of Britain's railways in 1893-1912," Economic History Working Papers 22552, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    6. Nickell, Stephen J, 1996. "Competition and Corporate Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(4), pages 724-746, August.
    7. E. H. Phelps Brown & S. J. Handfield-Jones, 1952. "THE CLIMACTERIC OF THE 1890's: A STUDY IN THE EXPANDING ECONOMY," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 266-307.
    8. Dodgson J. S., 1993. "British Railway Cost Functions and Productivity Growth, 1900-1912," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 158-181, April.
    9. N. F. R. Crafts & T. C. Mills, 1994. "The industrial revolution as a macroeconomic epoch: an alternative view," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 47(4), pages 769-775, November.
    10. Nicholas Crafts, 2004. "Steam as a general purpose technology: A growth accounting perspective," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(495), pages 338-351, April.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

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