Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/16769.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability: Danish Butter Factories in the Face of Coal Shortages

Author

Listed:
  • Sharp, Paul
  • Henriques, Sofia Teives
  • Tsoukli, Xanthi
  • Vedel, Christian
Abstract
Economic historians have debated the importance of energy for economic development. Energy economists would argue that energy systems need to be adaptable in the face of shocks. In this light, we consider the case of Denmark, a country which was almost entirely dependent on imports of coal, and where a long coastline made imports, largely from the UK, cheap and available. Towards the end of the First World War, however, and well into the 1920s, coal imports were cut off or difficult to obtain. We exploit detailed microlevel data from butter factories, covering the period 1900-28. We find that firms were able to adapt and make use of alternative fuels, notably peat, although its availability varied across the country. Employing a difference-in-differences approach, we find significant productivity advantages for creameries closer to available peat fields in the wake of the coal shortage.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharp, Paul & Henriques, Sofia Teives & Tsoukli, Xanthi & Vedel, Christian, 2021. "Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability: Danish Butter Factories in the Face of Coal Shortages," CEPR Discussion Papers 16769, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:16769
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP16769
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Sofia Teives Henriques & Paul Sharp, 2021. "Without coal in the age of steam and dams in the age of electricity: an explanation for the failure of Portugal to industrialize before the Second World War," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 25(1), pages 85-105.
    3. Lampe, Markus & Sharp, Paul, 2019. "A Land of Milk and Butter," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226549507, January.
    4. 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.
    5. Crafts, Nicholas & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2014. "The Location of the UK Cotton Textiles Industry in 1838: A Quantitative Analysis," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(4), pages 1103-1139, December.
    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. Allen,Robert C., 2009. "The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521868273, September.
    8. Wrigley,E. A., 2010. "Energy and the English Industrial Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521766937, October.
    9. Nina Boberg-Fazlic & Markus Lampe & Maja Uhre Pedersen & Paul Sharp, 2021. "Pandemics and protectionism: evidence from the “Spanish” flu," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    10. Nielsen, Hana, 2021. "Coal and Sugar: The Black and White Gold of Czech Industrialization (1841-1863)," Lund Papers in Economic History 229, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    11. Rubio-Varas, Mar & Muñoz-Delgado, Beatriz, 2019. "Long-term diversification paths and energy transitions in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 158-168.
    12. Ducoing, Cristián & Olsson-Spjut, Fredrik, 2018. "The energy transition in the Swedish iron and steel sector, 1800-1939," Lund Papers in Economic History 182, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    13. Lembke B., 1918. "√ a. p," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 111(1), pages 709-712, February.
    14. Magnus Lindmark & Fredrik Olsson Spjut, 2018. "From organic to fossil and in-between: new estimates of energy consumption in the Swedish manufacturing industry during 1800–1913," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 66(1), pages 18-33, January.
    15. Wrigley,E. A., 2010. "Energy and the English Industrial Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521131858, October.
    16. Astrid Kander & Paolo Malanima & Paul Warde, 2013. "Power to the People: Energy in Europe over the Last Five Centuries," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10138.
    17. Blum, Helcio & Legey, Luiz F.L., 2012. "The challenging economics of energy security: Ensuring energy benefits in support to sustainable development," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1982-1989.
    18. 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.
    19. Sofia Teives Henriques & Paul Sharp, 2021. "Erratum to: Without coal in the age of steam and dams in the age of electricity: an explanation for the failure of Portugal to industrialize before the Second World War," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 25(2), pages 404-404.
    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. 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).

    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. Kristin Ranestad & Paul Sharp, 2023. "Success through failure? Four centuries of searching for Danish coal," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 65(8), pages 1341-1365, November.
    2. Nielsen, Hana, 2021. "Coal and Sugar: The Black and White Gold of Czech Industrialization (1841-1863)," Lund Papers in Economic History 229, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    3. Morgan Kelly & Joel Mokyr & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2023. "The Mechanics of the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(1), pages 59-94.
    4. Sofia Teives Henriques & Paul Sharp, 2021. "Without coal in the age of steam and dams in the age of electricity: an explanation for the failure of Portugal to industrialize before the Second World War," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 25(1), pages 85-105.
    5. 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.
    6. Wouter Ryckbosch & Wout Saelens, 2023. "Fuelling the urban economy: A comparative study of energy in the Low Countries, 1600–1850," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(1), pages 221-256, February.
    7. Fouquet, Roger, 2016. "Lessons from energy history for climate policy: technological change, demand and economic development," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67785, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Agovino, Massimiliano & Bartoletto, Silvana & Garofalo, Antonio, 2019. "Modelling the relationship between energy intensity and GDP for European countries: An historical perspective (1800–2000)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 114-134.
    9. Ravshonbek Otojanov & Roger Fouquet & Brigitte Granville, 2023. "Factor prices and induced technical change in the industrial revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(2), pages 599-623, May.
    10. Kander, Astrid & Stern, David I., 2014. "Economic growth and the transition from traditional to modern energy in Sweden," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 56-65.
    11. Alan Fernihough & Kevin Hjortshøj, 2021. "Coal and the European Industrial Revolution," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(635), pages 1135-1149.
    12. Keith Sugden & Sebastian A.J. Keibek & Leigh Shaw-Taylor, "undated". "Adam Smith revisited: coal and the location of the woollen manufacture in England before mechanization, c. 1500-1820," Working Papers 33, Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Cambridge.
    13. Morgan Kelly & Joel Mokyr & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2015. "Roots of the Industrial Revolution," Working Papers 201524, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    14. Kelly, Morgan & Mokyr, Joel & Grada, Cormac O, 2015. "Roots of the Industrial Revolution," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 248, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    15. Christopher Kennedy, 2021. "A biophysical model of the industrial revolution," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(3), pages 663-676, June.
    16. Christopher Kennedy, 2020. "The energy embodied in the first and second industrial revolutions," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(4), pages 887-898, August.
    17. Paolo Malanima, 2020. "The limiting factor: energy, growth, and divergence, 1820–1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(2), pages 486-512, May.
    18. 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).
    19. John E. Murray & Javier Silvestre, 2020. "Integration in European coal markets, 1833–1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(3), pages 668-702, August.
    20. José Luis Martínez-González & Jordi Suriñach & Gabriel Jover & Javier Martín-Vide & Mariano Barriendos-Vallvé & Enric Tello, 2020. "Assessing climate impacts on English economic growth (1645–1740): an econometric approach," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 233-249, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Coal; Dairying; Denmark; Energy; Geography; Peat; Productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N54 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General

    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:cpr:ceprdp:16769. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    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.