Division of Labor and the Rise of Cities: Evidence from U.S. Industrialization, 1850-1880 / Sukkoo Kim.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kim, Sukkoo.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w12246.

NBER working paper series no. w12246

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Division of Labor and the Rise of Cities

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2006.

Summary:

Industrial revolution in the United States first took hold in rural New England as factories arose and grew in a handful of industries such as textiles and shoes. However, as factory scale economies rose and factory production techniques were adopted by an ever growing number of industries, industrialization became concentrated in cities throughout the Northeastern region which came to be known as the manufacturing belt. While it is extremely difficult to rule out other types of agglomeration economies such as spillovers, this paper suggests that these geographic developments associated with industrial revolution in the U.S. are most consistent with explanations based on division of labor, job search and matching costs.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2006.