Productivity and Performance in the Paper Industry
Labour, Capital and Technology in Britain and America, 1860-1914
Published on 27. March 1997
Book
Hardback
310 pages
978-0-521-58197-4 (ISBN)
Description
This pioneering 1997 study examines the economic development of the British paper industry between 1860 and 1914 - an era in which it is often claimed that the origins of Britain's relative economic decline are first witnessed. For paper-making, this was also a period in which an array of important new forces, including inter alia the development of new raw materials and the move to ever larger scales of production, came on the scene. Gary Bryan Magee looks at the effect of these changes and assesses how effectively the industry coped with the new pressures, drawing upon an extensive range of quantitative and archival sources from Britain, America, and other countries. Along the way, Dr Magee addresses issues central to the understanding of industrial competitiveness, such as technological change, entrepreneurship, productivity, trade policy, and industrial relations.
Reviews / Votes
"Gary Magee has written a thoughtful, rather abstract study of productivity in American and British papermaking during the second half of the nineteenth century." Leonard N. Rosenband, Isis "This study is unambiguously located within a well-defined field of research, that of the relative decline of British manufacturing supremacy and, more particularly, the performance of late Victorian and Edwardian entrepreneurs. Its subject is well-chosen. ...cuts a fresh path through the hesitations of an old debate." Pierre Claude Reynard, Journal of Economic History "Its real contribution is not so much the admittedly neglected case of papermakingg, but the attempt to integrate the perceived entrepreneurial failure into a credible economic analysis." Andrew Godley, EH.NET "This is a welcome addition to books on the history of papermaking, particularly as it is a comparative study of the industries in Britain and America." Richard L. Hills, Technology and CultureMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
51 Tables, unspecified; 1 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
656 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-58197-4 (9780521581974)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Content
List of Tables; List of Figures; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Background; 2. Technological change; 3. Performance; 4. Rags, esparto and wood: entrepreneurship and the choice of raw materials; 5. The Anglo-American labour productivity gap; 6. Unions and manning practices in Britain and America; 7. Raw materials, women, and labour-saving machinery: the Anglo-American gap, 1860-90; 8. Technological divergence: the Anglo-American gap, 1890-1913; 9. Free trade and paper; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography.