Did Coal Miners “Owe Their Souls to the Company Store”? Theory and Evidence from the Early 1900s

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10096046
AutoresPrice Fishback (University of Georgia, autor de correspondencia), Price V Fishback
Año1986
Volumen46
Número4
Páginas1011-1029
Fecha de publicación1986-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Economic History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-0507 • E-ISSN: 1471-6372
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022050700050695
OpenAlexW2036387532
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas10

Although coal companies may have tried to exploit a local-store monopoly, company-store prices in nonunion areas were appreciably limited by competition from other stores and mines in the same labor market. Company stores persisted in part by lowering transactions costs. Prices at company stores were generally similar to those at nearby independent stores, and higher wages may have compensated for higher store prices at isolated mines. Conditions varied, however, with labor-market tightness. Miners were generally not in debt to the store, nor paid entirely in scrip. Scrip was an advance on payday, when miners received cash

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