Electricity Diffusion and Trend Acceleration in Inter-War Manufacturing Productivity
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Authors
Ristuccia, Cristiano A.
Solomou, Solomos
Publication Date
2004-06-16Series
Cambridge Working Papers in Economics
Publisher
Faculty of Economics
Language
en_GB
Type
Working Paper
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Ristuccia, C. A., & Solomou, S. (2004). Electricity Diffusion and Trend Acceleration in Inter-War Manufacturing Productivity. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.5156
Abstract
This paper evaluates the link between the diffusion of electricity and the increase in labour productivity growth in the manufacturing sector during the inter-war period. A comparative analysis of the USA, Britain, Germany, and Japan shows that the trend acceleration in labour productivity is common to all these countries except Germany and is correlated with electricity diffusion. Germanyà  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à ¯à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à ¿à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à  à ½s labour productivity growth was nevertheless sustained in 1925 - 1938. The USA saw an earlier acceleration because the diffusion of electricity-based general-purpose technologies in production was much faster than in the other countries examined.
Keywords
economic growth, economic history, productivity, long swings, Classification-JEL: N11, N12, N13, N14, N60, O40
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.5156
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