Productivity and Performance in the Paper Industry: Labour, Capital and Technology in Britain and America, 1860–1914

by Gary Bryan Magee

• ISBN13: 9780521581974
• ISBN10: 0521581974
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-04-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This pioneering 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.

Table of Contents

List of figures	x	(1)
List of Tables	xi	(3)
Acknowledgements	xiv	(1)
List of abbreviations	xv
Introduction	1	(6)
1 Background	7	(19)
2 Technological change	26	(43)
3 Performance	69	(19)
4 Rags, esparto, and wood: entrepreneurship and the choice of raw materials	88	(57)
5 The Anglo-American labour productivity gap	145	(16)
6 Unions and manning practices in Britain and America	161	(13)
7 Raw materials, women, and labour-saving machinery: the Anglo-American gap, 1860-1890	174	(22)
8 Technological divergence: the Anglo-American gap, 1890-1913	196	(44)
9 Free trade and paper	240	(27)
Conclusion	267	(4)
Bibliography	271	(14)
Index	285