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The role of technology and institutions for growth: Danish creameries in the late-19th century

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Sharp

    (University of Copenhagen)

  • Ingrid Henriksen

    (University of Copenhagen)

  • Markus Lampe

    (Universidad Carlos III Madrid)

Abstract

"We consider the relative contributions of changing technology and institutions for economic growth through the investigation of a natural experiment in history: the almost simultaneous introduction of the automatic cream separator and the cooperative ownership form in the Danish dairy industry from around 1880. Using a new database of statistics from creameries and the tool of stochastic frontier analysis, we find that both institutions and technology were important for the success of the Danish dairy industry and, by implication, the growth and early development of the Danish economy."

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Sharp & Ingrid Henriksen & Markus Lampe, 2011. "The role of technology and institutions for growth: Danish creameries in the late-19th century," Working Papers 11028, Economic History Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehs:wpaper:11028
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    File URL: https://www.economics.ku.dk/research/publications/wp/dp_2010/1032.pdf/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    3. Henriksen, Ingrid, 1999. "Avoiding lock-in: Cooperative creameries in Denmark, 1882–1903," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 57-78, April.
    4. Acemoglu, Daron & Johnson, Simon & Robinson, James A., 2005. "Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 385-472, Elsevier.
    5. KevinH. O'Rourke, 2007. "Culture, Conflict and Cooperation: Irish Dairying Before the Great War," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1357-1379, October.
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    9. Kenneth L. Sokoloff, 1984. "Was the Transition from the Artisanal Shop to the Factory Associated with Gains in Efficiency?: Evidence from the U.S. Manufacturing Censuses of 1820 and 1850," UCLA Economics Working Papers 300, UCLA Department of Economics.
    10. Fan, Yanqin & Li, Qi & Weersink, Alfons, 1996. "Semiparametric Estimation of Stochastic Production Frontier Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 14(4), pages 460-468, October.
    11. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Ghosh, Soumendra & McGuckin, J Thomas, 1991. "A Generalized Production Frontier Approach for Estimating Determinants of Inefficiency in U.S. Dairy Farms," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 9(3), pages 279-286, July.
    12. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Biswas, Basudeb & Bailey, DeeVon, 1989. "A Study of Economic Efficiency of Utah Dairy Farmers: A System Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(4), pages 595-604, November.
    13. Ingrid Henriksen & Kevin H. O'Rourke, 2005. "Incentives, technology and the shift to year‐round dairying in late nineteenth‐century Denmark," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 58(3), pages 520-554, August.
    14. Sokoloff, Kenneth L., 1984. "Was the transition from the artisanal shop to the nonmechanized factory associated with gains in efficiency?: Evidence from the U.S. Manufacturing censuses of 1820 and 1850," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 351-382, October.
    15. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Samuel Garrido, 2018. "Why the first cooperative wineries produced poor quality wine, why they were so scarce and why they were set up: evidence from Spain," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 1807, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    2. Vincent Bignon & Cecilia Garcia-Pe alosa, 2018. "The Toll of Tariffs: Protectionism, Education and Fertility in Late 19th Century France," Working papers 690, Banque de France.
    3. Sofia Henriques & Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp & Xanthi Tsoukli & Christian Veddel, 2020. "Opening the Black Box of the Danish Dairy Cooperatives: A Productivity Analysis," Working Papers 0203, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    4. Sofia Teives Henriques & Paul Sharp & Xanthi Tsoukli & Christian Vedel, 2021. "Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability:Danish Butter Factories in the Face of Coal Shortages," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 598, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    5. Francisco J. Medina-Albaladejo & José L. Martínez-González, 2025. "Management Skills or Economic Context? The Performance of Spanish Consumer Cooperatives in the First Third of the Twentieth Century," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 2501, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    6. Abildgren, Kim, 2016. "The National Wealth of Denmark 1845-2013 in a European Perspective," Nationaløkonomisk tidsskrift, Nationaløkonomisk Forening, vol. 2016(1), pages 1-19.
    7. Sharp, Paul & Jensen, Peter & Lampe, Markus & Skovsgaard, Christian, 2018. "‘Getting to Denmark’: the Role of Elites for Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 12679, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp & Xanthi Tsoukli & Christian Vedel, 2021. "Ireland in a Danish mirror: A microlevel comparison of the productivity of Danish and Irish creameries before the First World War," Working Papers 0219, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    9. Henriques, Sofia Teives & Sharp, Paul & Tsoukli, Xanthi & Vedel, Christian, 2024. "Adaptability, diversification, and energy shocks: A firm level productivity analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Creameries; dairies; Denmark; development; economic growth; institutions; technology; stochastic frontier analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • N5 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture

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