The labor market consequences of electricity adoption: concrete evidence from the Great Depression

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• Dr Miguel Morin (Cambridge)
• Monday 23 February 2015, 13:00-14:00
• Seminar Room 5, Faculty of History.

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It remains a puzzle that job creation was so low during the Great Depression despite the quick recovery of productivity. This paper tests whether the adoption of electricity can explain both facts. It uses geography as an instrument for the change in the price of electricity and the concrete industry as a detailed case study. It finds that cheaper electricity caused a decrease in employment and in the labor share of income, as well as an increase in labor quantity productivity and electrical intensity. The findings lend support to the theory of technological unemployment during the Great Depression.

This talk is part of the Quantitative History Seminar series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• AUB_Cambridge Seminars
• Department of Geography
• Economic and Social History Seminars
• Quantitative History Seminar
• Seminar Room 5, Faculty of History
• history

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