Industrial Efficiency :: essays papers

Industrial Efficiency This hold, in the Journal of Economic History, Asher explains the differences in energy betwixt the American and British textile industries. This has been a highly debated subject field with many economists weighing in. In Ashers analysis, he uses a rattling empirical approach, rather then trying to explain differences in information with a sociological approach as other economists have.Asher begins by explaining the hint theory in manufacturing efficiency that Rothbarth and Habakkuk developed. Their main explanation for differences is the population disparities between the two countries. In England, thither was a labor surplus, while in America, there was a labor scarcity. This scarcity forced American entrepreneurs to put through extremely efficient production methods. While this may be a plausible explanation, Asher maintains that it lacks rigorous formulation and testing.In response, Asher develops a model, using a production function with const ant elasticity of substitution. Within the model, he tries to grammatical constituent for bias in technical change. Tests were run to determine two incompatible explanations (a) labor-saving bias was used in America and capital-saving bias was used in Britain or (b) there was labor-saving bias in both countries, but there was more technical progress in America.The test indicates that there is a labor saving bias in both countries. This was the expected take that follows the Rothbarth-Habakkuk theory. However, in an unexpected outcome, it appears that the test maintains a capital-saving bias in Britain, as well. This is a combination of the two anticipated outcomes and seems to be opposite of the Rothbarth-Habakkuk theory.This article highlights the technical changes examined in the reading in Chapter 17 of the W&R textbook. While the textbook concentrates on the mass production of goods such as steel, it was interesting to read about a good that individual members of family buy daily textiles. I think it