IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hes/wpaper/0071.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Contracts and cooperation: The relative failure of the Irish dairy industry in the late nineteenth century reconsidered

Author

Listed:
  • Ingrid Henriksen

    (University of Southern Denmark)

  • Eoin McLaughlin

    (University of St. Andrews)

  • Paul Sharp

    (University of Southern Denmark)

Abstract

Why did the establishment of cooperative creameries in late nineteenth century Ireland fail to halt the relative decline of her dairy industry compared to other emerging producers? This paper compares the Irish experience with that of the market leader, Denmark, and shows how each adopted the cooperative organisational form, but highlights that an important difference was institutional: specifically regarding the enforcement of vertically binding contracts, which are considered to be of vital importance for the successful operation of cooperatives. We argue that this failure, combined with a strong proprietary sector which was opposed to cooperation, reinforced the already difficult conditions for dairying in Ireland due to poor social capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Ingrid Henriksen & Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp, 2015. "Contracts and cooperation: The relative failure of the Irish dairy industry in the late nineteenth century reconsidered," Working Papers 0071, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    • Handle: RePEc:hes:wpaper:0071
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ehes.org/wp/EHES_71.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guinnane, Timothy W. & Martinez-Rodriguez, Susana, 2010. "Did the Cooperative Start Life as a Joint-Stock Company? Business Law and Cooperatives in Spain, 1869-1931," Center Discussion Papers 90880, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    2. Guinnane, Timothy & Harris, Ron & Lamoreaux, Naomi R. & Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent, 2007. "Putting the Corporation in its Place," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 687-729, September.
    3. Henriksen, Ingrid & Lampe, Markus & Sharp, Paul, 2011. "The role of technology and institutions for growth: Danish creameries in the late nineteenth century," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 475-493, December.
    4. Graeme G. Acheson & Gareth Campbell & John D. Turner & Nadia Vanteeva, 2015. "Corporate ownership and control in Victorian Britain," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 911-936, August.
    5. Joel Sobel, 2002. "Can We Trust Social Capital?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 139-154, March.
    6. Ingrid Henriksen & Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp, 2015. "Contracts and cooperation: the relative failure of the Irish dairy industry in the late nineteenth century reconsidered," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 19(4), pages 412-431.
    7. Richard Perren, 1971. "The North American Beef and Cattle Trade with Great Britain, 1870-1914," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 24(3), pages 430-444, August.
    8. Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia, 2012. "Commons, social capital, and the emergence of agricultural cooperatives in early twentieth century Spain," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 16(4), pages 511-528, November.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Edward L. Glaeser & David Laibson & Bruce Sacerdote, 2002. "An Economic Approach to Social Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(483), pages 437-458, November.
    12. Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp, 2021. "Competition between organisational forms in Danish and Irish dairying around the turn of the twentieth century," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(2), pages 314-341, February.
    13. Oliver E. Williamson, 2000. "The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 595-613, September.
    14. Posner, Richard A., 2010. "From the new institutional economics to organization economics: with applications to corporate governance, government agencies, and legal institutions," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-37, March.
    15. Henriksen, Ingrid & Hviid, Morten & Sharp, Paul, 2012. "Law and Peace: Contracts and the Success of the Danish Dairy Cooperatives," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(1), pages 197-224, March.
    16. Samuel Garrido, 2014. "Plenty of trust, not much cooperation: social capital and collective action in early twentieth century eastern Spain," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 18(4), pages 413-432.
    17. O'Rourke, Kevin H., 2007. "Property rights, politics and innovation: creamery diffusion in pre-1914 Ireland," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 395-417, December.
    18. repec:cge:wacage:2016 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Turner,Michael, 1996. "After the Famine," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521553889.
    20. David Taylor, 1976. "The English Dairy Industry, 1860–1930," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 29(4), pages 585-601, November.
    21. Christopher L. Colvin & Eoin McLaughlin, 2014. "Raiffeisenism abroad: why did German cooperative banking fail in Ireland but prosper in the Netherlands?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(2), pages 492-516, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Ingrid Henriksen & Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp, 2015. "Contracts and cooperation: the relative failure of the Irish dairy industry in the late nineteenth century reconsidered," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 19(4), pages 412-431.
    2. Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp, 2021. "Competition between organisational forms in Danish and Irish dairying around the turn of the twentieth century," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(2), pages 314-341, February.
    3. Jeanet Bentzen & Nina Boberg-Fazlic & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard & Christian Vedel, 2023. "Holy Cows and Spilt Milk - The Impact of Religious Conflict on Firm-Level Productivity," Working Papers 0245, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Nina Boberg-Fazlic & Peter Sandholt Jensen & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard, 2023. "‘Getting to Denmark’: the role of agricultural elites for development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 525-569, December.
    7. 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).
    8. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2017. "ÔRationalÕ Farmers and the Emergence of Modern Accounting in Danish Dairying," Working Papers 0115, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    9. Peter Sandholt Jensen & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard, 2018. "‘Getting to Denmark’: the Role of Elites for Development," Working Papers 0125, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    10. 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).
    11. Christopher L. Colvin & Stuart Henderson & John D. Turner, 2018. "The Origins of the (Cooperative) Species: Raiffeisen Banking in the Netherlands, 1898–1909," Working Papers 0126, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    12. Bengtsson, Erik, 2019. "Reconsidering the Role of Farmer Politics in Swedish Democratization," Lund Papers in Economic History 205, Lund University, Department of Economic History.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Sandholt Jensen & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard, 2018. "‘Getting to Denmark’: the Role of Elites for Development," Working Papers 0125, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    2. 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).
    3. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2015. "Just add milk: a productivity analysis of the revolutionary changes in nineteenth-century Danish dairying," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(4), pages 1132-1153, November.
    4. Eva Fernández, 2014. "Trust, religion, and cooperation in western agriculture, 1880–1930," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(3), pages 678-698, August.
    5. 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.
    6. 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).
    7. 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.
    8. Samuel Garrido, 2021. "Inequality and conflict as drivers of cooperation: the location of wine cooperatives in pre-1936 Spain," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 15(2), pages 443-476, May.
    9. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2014. "Greasing the wheels of rural transformation? Margarine and the competition for the British butter market," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(3), pages 769-792, August.
    10. Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp, 2021. "Competition between organisational forms in Danish and Irish dairying around the turn of the twentieth century," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(2), pages 314-341, February.
    11. Edward L. Glaeser & David I. Laibson & José A. Scheinkman & Christine L. Soutter, 2000. "Measuring Trust," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 811-846.
      • Glaeser, Edward Ludwig & Laibson, David I. & Scheinkman, Jose A. & Soutter, Christine L., 2000. "Measuring Trust," Scholarly Articles 4481497, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    12. Nina Boberg-Fazlic & Peter Sandholt Jensen & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard, 2023. "‘Getting to Denmark’: the role of agricultural elites for development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 525-569, December.
    13. Sofia Teives Henriques & Paul Sharp, 2016. "The Danish agricultural revolution in an energy perspective: a case of development with few domestic energy sources," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(3), pages 844-869, August.
    14. Colvin, Christopher L. & Henderson, Stuart & Turner, John D., 2018. "The origins of the (cooperative) species: Raiffeisen banking in the Netherlands, 1898-1909," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2018-03, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    15. Jeanet Bentzen & Nina Boberg-Fazlic & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard & Christian Vedel, 2023. "Holy Cows and Spilt Milk - The Impact of Religious Conflict on Firm-Level Productivity," Working Papers 0245, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    16. Gul Ejaz & Maryum Bibi, 2016. "Hello Folk: We Are Responsible for What We Will Face in 2025; Evidence from Philosophical Underpinnings of Social Capital," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 805-822.
    17. Francesco Pasimeni & Paolo Pasimeni, 2016. "An Institutional Analysis of the Europe 2020 Strategy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 1021-1038, July.
    18. Samuel Garrido, 2022. "Buffer stocks, wine quality, and wine cooperatives in Franco’s Spain and beyond," Working Papers 2022/11, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    19. Haobin Fan & Xuanyi Nie, 2020. "Impacts of Layoffs and Government Assistance on Mental Health during COVID-19: An Evidence-Based Study of the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-23, September.
    20. Roberta Dessì & Salvatore Piccolo, 2008. "Two is Company, N is a Crowd? Merchant Guilds and Social Capital," CSEF Working Papers 202, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy, revised 12 Jul 2009.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Contracts; cooperation; dairying; Ireland;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K12 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Contract Law
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • N43 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N53 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hes:wpaper:0071. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Paul Sharp (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehessea.html .

    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.