Jeremy Atack
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 245261 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Jeremy Atack |
| NOMBRES | Jeremy |
| APELLIDO | Atack |
| FIRMA | ATACK J |
| AFILIACIONES | Vanderbilt University |
| ORCID | 0009-0004-6685-7370 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 42 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 213 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 42 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1975 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2024 |
| ÍNDICE H | 11 |
De-skilling
Digitizing Carroll D. Wright’s “Hand and Machine Labor” Study
We describe our digitization of a uniquely detailed study of 19 th century production methods assembled by the United States Department of Labor (1899). The staff spent five years collecting and assembling data on the production of hundreds of highly specific products (as well as some services) at the production operations level using traditional artisanal (“hand”) methods and by the (then) most modern “machine” methods, measuring productivity in…
Industrialization and urbanization in nineteenth century America
Mechanization Takes Command
During the nineteenth century, U.S. manufacturers shifted away from the "hand labor" mode of production, characteristic of artisan shops, to "machine labor," which was increasingly concentrated in steam-powered factories. This transition fundamentally changed production tasks, jobs, and job requirements. This paper uses digitized data on these two production modes from an 1899 U.S. Commissioner of Labor report to estimate the frequency and impact…
Gallman revisited
"Automation" of Manufacturing in the Late Nineteenth Century
Recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics have generated a robust debate about the future of work. An analogous debate occurred in the late nineteenth century when mechanization first transformed manufacturing. We analyze an extraordinary dataset from the late nineteenth century, the Hand and Machine Labor study carried out by the US Department of Labor in the mid-1890s. We focus on transitions at the task level from hand to machine…
Summaries of Doctoral Dissertations
I was honored that Lee Alston asked me to be the convener for the Nevins Prize Competition this year. There were close to a dozen submissions spanning a
The Cambridge History of Capitalism
The first volume of The Cambridge History of Capitalism provides a comprehensive account of the evolution of capitalism from its earliest beginnings. Starting with its distant origins in ancient Babylon, successive chapters trace progression up to the 'Promised Land' of capitalism in America. Adopting a wide geographical coverage and comparative perspective, the international team of authors discuss the contributions of Greek, Roman, and Asian ci…
American Banking and the Transportation Revolution before the Civil War
Studies have shown a connection between finance and growth, but most do not consider how financial and real factors interact to put a virtuous cycle of economic development into motion. As the main transportation advance of the nineteenth century, railroads connected established commercial centers and made unsettled areas along their routes better candidates for development. We measure the strength of links between railroads and banks in seven Mi…
On the Use of Geographic Information Systems in Economic History
Transportation improvements in the nineteenth century loom large in the historiography of the profession during the twentieth century. This article describes the ongoing construction of a historical geographic information systems (GIS) transportation database designed to provide new insights into the impact of the transportation and communications revolution in the continental United States by providing evidence on the spatial dimensions of those…
Did Railroads Induce or Follow Economic Growth
Using a newly developed geographic information system transportation database, we study the impact of gaining access to rail transportation on changes in population density and the rate of urbanization between 1850 and 1860 in the American Midwest. Differences-in-differences and instrumental variable analysis of a balanced panel of 278 counties reveals only a small positive effect of rail access on population density but a large positive impact o…
Creating Abundance
Historical GIS
Steam power, establishment size, and labor productivity growth in nineteenth century American manufacturing
Editors' Report, September 2004
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Capital deepening and the rise of the factory
Between 1850 and 1880, capital per worker in United States manufacturing increased on average by at least 75 per cent, even after taking account of declining capital goods prices. During this same period, production shifted from small, labour-intensive artisan shops to large capital-intensive factories. Similar changes have occurred in many other countries at the same stage of industrialization. Establishment-level data from the federal censuses …
A Nineteenth–Century Resource for Agricultural History Research in the Twenty–First Century
The paper announces the imminent availability of a major extension of the well-known Bateman-Foust sample. This new resource will contain linked agricultural and population census data between 1850 and 1880 for thousands of individuals in an expanded group of townships including some from the Pacific Coast states and Massachusetts and has in excess of 220,000 person-observations. The paper discusses a number of problems and complications associat…
A Nineteenth-Century Resource for Agricultural History Research in the Twenty-First Century
The paper announces the imminent availability of a major extension of the well-known Bateman-Foust sample. This new resource will contain linked agricultural and population census data between 1850 and 1880 for thousands of individuals in an expanded group of townships including some from the Pacific Coast states and Massachusetts and has in excess of 220,000 person-observations. The paper discusses a number of problems and complications associat…
Skill Intensity and Rising Wage Dispersion in Nineteenth-Century American Manufacturing
We study the correlates of the monthly establishment wage-the average monthly wage at the establishment level-and changes in wage dispersion between plants using a model of manufacturing developed by Goldin and Katz and data from manuscript censuses of manufacturing. We find that wages were decreasing in establishment size, but increasing in capital intensity and use of steam power. We also find an increase in inequality in the establishment wage…
Productivity in manufacturing and the length of the working day
Part-Year Operation in Nineteenth-Century American Manufacturing
We examine the extent and correlates of part-year manufacturing during the late nineteenth century using unpublished data from the manuscripts of the 1870 and 1880 censuses of manufactures. These are the earliest comprehensive estimates available on this topic. Although the typical manufacturing plant operated full-time, part-year operation was not uncommon. Indeed, the likelihood of part-year operation varied across industries and location and w…
Nineteenth-Century U.S. Industrial Development through the Eyes of the Census of Manufactures a New Resource for Historical Research
(1999). Nineteenth-Century U.S. Industrial Development through the Eyes of the Census of Manufactures a New Resource for Historical Research. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History: Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 177-188
Business Activity and the Boston Stock Market, 1835–1869
Birth Weight and Economic Growth
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match”
(1992). “Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match”. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 53-65
Nineteenth-Century U.S. Industrial Development through the Eyes of the Census of Manufactures a New Resource for Historical Research
(1999). Nineteenth-Century U.S. Industrial Development through the Eyes of the Census of Manufactures a New Resource for Historical Research. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History: Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 177-188
Egalitarianism, Inequality, and Age
Little is known about the distribution of wealth in the allegedly egalitarian society of the rural North on the eve of the Civil War. This paper investigates the role of the age structure of the heads of household and a life-cycle pattern of accumulation in determining the wealth distribution within that society and among the various groups that comprised it. The results suggest a need for caution in making cross-group or inter-temporal compariso…
Industrial structure and the emergence of the modern industrial corporation
On the Use of Geographic Information Systems in Economic History
Transportation improvements in the nineteenth century loom large in the historiography of the profession during the twentieth century. This article describes the ongoing construction of a historical geographic information systems (GIS) transportation database designed to provide new insights into the impact of the transportation and communications revolution in the continental United States by providing evidence on the spatial dimensions of those…
The Regional Diffusion and Adoption of the Steam Engine in American Manufacturing
In spite of the importance accorded the steam engine during nineteenth-century industrialization, little is known about its rate of diffusion and the determinants thereof in the United States. The primary purpose of this paper is to enhance our knowledge about the spread of this technology. New evidence on steam power use in 1820, 1850, and 1860, combined with published census data from 1870, permits quantitative estimates of the regional variati…
Fact in fiction? The relative costs of steam and water power
How Long Was the Workday in 1880
This article develops the first comprehensive set of estimates of daily hours of work in 1880 using new data from the Census of Manufactures. We conclude that the average workday was almost exactly 10 hours in 1880—almost a decade earlier than hitherto supposed. Our statistical analysis also reveals small but statistically significant variations in hours between firms and industries, between regions, and by location. We also find that higher-paid…
Skill Intensity and Rising Wage Dispersion in Nineteenth-Century American Manufacturing
We study the correlates of the monthly establishment wage-the average monthly wage at the establishment level-and changes in wage dispersion between plants using a model of manufacturing developed by Goldin and Katz and data from manuscript censuses of manufacturing. We find that wages were decreasing in establishment size, but increasing in capital intensity and use of steam power. We also find an increase in inequality in the establishment wage…
Productivity in manufacturing and the length of the working day
Steam power, establishment size, and labor productivity growth in nineteenth century American manufacturing
Returns to scale in antebellum United States manufacturing
Part-Year Operation in Nineteenth-Century American Manufacturing
We examine the extent and correlates of part-year manufacturing during the late nineteenth century using unpublished data from the manuscripts of the 1870 and 1880 censuses of manufactures. These are the earliest comprehensive estimates available on this topic. Although the typical manufacturing plant operated full-time, part-year operation was not uncommon. Indeed, the likelihood of part-year operation varied across industries and location and w…
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match”
(1992). “Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match”. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 53-65
Firm Size and Industrial Structure in the United States During the Nineteenth Century
This paper investigates the impact of the emergence of large-scale enterprises on industrial structure in America in the mid-nineteenth century and concludes that their impact was ambiguous. In cottons and irons, average scale increased dramatically, but inequality in the size distribution of plants declined and economic concentration showed no clear trend. In other industries, changes in average scale were much smaller and inequality increased, …
Capital deepening and the rise of the factory
Between 1850 and 1880, capital per worker in United States manufacturing increased on average by at least 75 per cent, even after taking account of declining capital goods prices. During this same period, production shifted from small, labour-intensive artisan shops to large capital-intensive factories. Similar changes have occurred in many other countries at the same stage of industrialization. Establishment-level data from the federal censuses …
"Automation" of Manufacturing in the Late Nineteenth Century
Recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics have generated a robust debate about the future of work. An analogous debate occurred in the late nineteenth century when mechanization first transformed manufacturing. We analyze an extraordinary dataset from the late nineteenth century, the Hand and Machine Labor study carried out by the US Department of Labor in the mid-1890s. We focus on transitions at the task level from hand to machine…
Mechanization Takes Command
During the nineteenth century, U.S. manufacturers shifted away from the "hand labor" mode of production, characteristic of artisan shops, to "machine labor," which was increasingly concentrated in steam-powered factories. This transition fundamentally changed production tasks, jobs, and job requirements. This paper uses digitized data on these two production modes from an 1899 U.S. Commissioner of Labor report to estimate the frequency and impact…
Steel rails and American railroads, 1867–1880
American Banking and the Transportation Revolution before the Civil War
Studies have shown a connection between finance and growth, but most do not consider how financial and real factors interact to put a virtuous cycle of economic development into motion. As the main transportation advance of the nineteenth century, railroads connected established commercial centers and made unsettled areas along their routes better candidates for development. We measure the strength of links between railroads and banks in seven Mi…
Business Activity and the Boston Stock Market, 1835–1869
The Profitability of Steamboating on Western Rivers
This study indicates that profit rates in western river steamboating were typical of the returns earned in other antebellum business activities, and that returns were much higher on tributary than on trunk steamboating routes
De-skilling
Steel rails and American railroads, 1867–1880
The Profitability of Steamboating on Western Rivers
This study indicates that profit rates in western river steamboating were typical of the returns earned in other antebellum business activities, and that returns were much higher on tributary than on trunk steamboating routes
Returns to scale in antebellum United States manufacturing
Economies of Scale in Western River Steamboating
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Estimation of Economies of Scale in Nineteenth-Century United States Manufacturing and the Form of the Production Function
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Fact in fiction? The relative costs of steam and water power
The Regional Diffusion and Adoption of the Steam Engine in American Manufacturing
In spite of the importance accorded the steam engine during nineteenth-century industrialization, little is known about its rate of diffusion and the determinants thereof in the United States. The primary purpose of this paper is to enhance our knowledge about the spread of this technology. New evidence on steam power use in 1820, 1850, and 1860, combined with published census data from 1870, permits quantitative estimates of the regional variati…
The "Egalitarian Ideal" and the Distribution of Wealth in the Northern Agricultural Community
This paper contributes new evidence on the wealth distribution in the rural North on the eve of the Civil War,' evidence which shows a greater degree of egalitarianism among a large segment of the population than have other studies. We argue that the wealth distribution in this particular historical economy may be used as a yardstick against which contemporary distributions might be judged. We also present evidence on the demographic and social c…
Egalitarianism, Inequality, and Age
Little is known about the distribution of wealth in the allegedly egalitarian society of the rural North on the eve of the Civil War. This paper investigates the role of the age structure of the heads of household and a life-cycle pattern of accumulation in determining the wealth distribution within that society and among the various groups that comprised it. The results suggest a need for caution in making cross-group or inter-temporal compariso…
Steel rails and American railroads, 1867–1880
An Emerging Independent American Economy, 1815-1875
Steel rails and American railroads, 1867–1880
Marketable Farm Surpluses
Industrial structure and the emergence of the modern industrial corporation
Firm Size and Industrial Structure in the United States During the Nineteenth Century
This paper investigates the impact of the emergence of large-scale enterprises on industrial structure in America in the mid-nineteenth century and concludes that their impact was ambiguous. In cottons and irons, average scale increased dramatically, but inequality in the size distribution of plants declined and economic concentration showed no clear trend. In other industries, changes in average scale were much smaller and inequality increased, …
To Their Own Soil
Journal Article To Their Own Soil: Agriculture in the Antebellum North. By Jeremy Atack and Fred Bateman. (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1987. xii + 322 pp. $29.95.) Get access Homer E. Socolofsky Homer E. Socolofsky Kansas State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 74, Issue 4, March 1988, Pages 1339–1340, https://doi.org/10.2307/1894443 Published: 01 March 1…
To Their Own Soil
How Long Was the Workday in 1880
This article develops the first comprehensive set of estimates of daily hours of work in 1880 using new data from the Census of Manufactures. We conclude that the average workday was almost exactly 10 hours in 1880—almost a decade earlier than hitherto supposed. Our statistical analysis also reveals small but statistically significant variations in hours between firms and industries, between regions, and by location. We also find that higher-paid…
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match”
(1992). “Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match”. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 53-65
Birth Weight and Economic Growth
Nineteenth-Century U.S. Industrial Development through the Eyes of the Census of Manufactures a New Resource for Historical Research
(1999). Nineteenth-Century U.S. Industrial Development through the Eyes of the Census of Manufactures a New Resource for Historical Research. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History: Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 177-188
Business Activity and the Boston Stock Market, 1835–1869
Part-Year Operation in Nineteenth-Century American Manufacturing
We examine the extent and correlates of part-year manufacturing during the late nineteenth century using unpublished data from the manuscripts of the 1870 and 1880 censuses of manufactures. These are the earliest comprehensive estimates available on this topic. Although the typical manufacturing plant operated full-time, part-year operation was not uncommon. Indeed, the likelihood of part-year operation varied across industries and location and w…
Productivity in manufacturing and the length of the working day
A Nineteenth–Century Resource for Agricultural History Research in the Twenty–First Century
The paper announces the imminent availability of a major extension of the well-known Bateman-Foust sample. This new resource will contain linked agricultural and population census data between 1850 and 1880 for thousands of individuals in an expanded group of townships including some from the Pacific Coast states and Massachusetts and has in excess of 220,000 person-observations. The paper discusses a number of problems and complications associat…
A Nineteenth-Century Resource for Agricultural History Research in the Twenty-First Century
The paper announces the imminent availability of a major extension of the well-known Bateman-Foust sample. This new resource will contain linked agricultural and population census data between 1850 and 1880 for thousands of individuals in an expanded group of townships including some from the Pacific Coast states and Massachusetts and has in excess of 220,000 person-observations. The paper discusses a number of problems and complications associat…
Economics (32 obras) · Historical Economic and Social Studies (24 obras) · Geography (17 obras) · Business (15 obras) · American Environmental and Regional History (14 obras) · Computer Science (14 obras) · History (13 obras) · Economic growth (11 obras) · Political science (11 obras) · Archaeology (10 obras)