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Manufacturing Where Agriculture Predominates: Evidence from the South and Midwest in 1860

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  • Kenneth L. Sokoloff
  • Viken Tchakerian
Abstract
We employ the 1860 Census of Manufactures to study rural antebellum manufacturing in the South and Midwest, and find that manufacturing output per capita was similar across regions in counties specialized in the same agricultural products. The southern deficit in manufactures per capita appears to have been largely attributable to the very low levels of output in counties specialized in cotton production. This implies that it was the South's capabilities for the highly profitable cotton production, not the existence of slavery per se, that was responsible for the region's limited industrial development -- at least in rural areas. The other major finding is that in both the South and the Midwest measured total factor productivity was significantly lower in counties specialized in wheat (the most seasonal of agricultural products as regards labor requirements). This is consistent with suggestions that agricultural districts where the predominant crops were highly seasonal in their requirements for labor were well suited to support manufacturing enterprise during the offpeak periods

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth L. Sokoloff & Viken Tchakerian, 1997. "Manufacturing Where Agriculture Predominates: Evidence from the South and Midwest in 1860," NBER Historical Working Papers 0100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberhi:0100
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    1. Magnac, Thierry & Postel-Vinay, Gilles, 1997. "Wage Competition between Agriculture and Industry in Mid-Nineteenth Century France," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-26, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yusheng Peng & Lynne G. Zucker & Michael R. Darby, 1997. "Chinese Rural Industrial Productivity and Urban Spillovers," NBER Working Papers 6202, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Irina Rosa Espana E & Irina Rosa España E. y Fabio Sánchez T., 2012. "Colonial Mestizaje and its Consequences for Human Capital and Early Twentieth Century Regional Industrialization in Colombia," Documentos CEDE 10015, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    3. Nicolas Devijlder & Koen Schoors, 2020. "Land rights, local financial development and industrial activity: evidence from Flanders (nineteenth–early twentieth century)," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(3), pages 507-550, September.
    4. Nicolas De Vijlder & Koen Schoors, 2019. "Land Rights, Local Financial Development And Industrial Activity: Evidence From Flanders (19th – Early 20th Century)," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 19/962, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    5. Irina Rosa Espana Eljaiek & Fabio Sánchez Torres, 2010. "Industrialización regional, café y capital humano en la primera mitad del siglo XX en Colombia," Documentos CEDE 7723, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • N5 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries

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