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Why Isn't the Whole World Developed? Lessons from the Cotton Mills
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2009
Abstract
In 1910 one New England cotton textile operative performed as much work as 1.5 British, 2.3 German, and nearly 6 Greek, Japanese, Indian, or Chinese workers. Input substitution, and differences in technology, management, and workers' training or inherent abilities do not explain this. Instead local culture seems to have determined worker performance. Such differences, if widespread, would explain much of the international variation in wages. They also have important consequences for understanding labor migration, the choice of technique, and the sources of economic growth.
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References
1 Floud and McCloskey's recent compilation on the economic history of Britain, although an excellent presentation of recent research, suffers this problem. We learn much more about what did not cause British economic development than about what did. See Floud, Roderick and McCloskey, Donald, eds., The Economic History of Britain since 1700 (Cambridge, 1981).Google Scholar
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