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Opening the Black Box of the Danish Dairy Cooperatives: A Productivity Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Sofia Henriques

    (Lund University)

  • Eoin McLaughlin

    (University College Cork)

  • Paul Sharp

    (University of Southern Denmark)

  • Xanthi Tsoukli

    (University of Southern Denmark)

  • Christian Veddel

    (University of Southern Denmark)

Abstract

The rapid spread of the Danish dairy cooperatives from the 1880s until the First World War is often portrayed as a uniform wave which swept the country. We investigate this using exceptionally detailed micro-level panel data taken from the Operational Statistics of Creameries, which were published from 1898 until after the Second World War. Our database comprises 1419 creameries over the period 1898- 1945 and no less than 131 variables. We document the data, and use a simple fixed effects setup to demonstrate considerable heterogeneity in the productivity of the individual creameries both over time and across space. We conclude by suggesting reasons for this, including scale of production, accessibility of fuel, religious institutions, and more.

Suggested Citation

  • Sofia Henriques & Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp & Xanthi Tsoukli & Christian Veddel, 2020. "Opening the Black Box of the Danish Dairy Cooperatives: A Productivity Analysis," Working Papers 0203, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    • Handle: RePEc:hes:wpaper:0203
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    File URL: https://www.ehes.org/wp/EHES_203.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lampe, Markus & Sharp, Paul, 2019. "A Land of Milk and Butter," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226549507, June.
    2. Henriksen, Ingrid & Lampe, Markus & Sharp, Paul, 2011. "The role of technology and institutions for growth: Danish creameries in the late nineteenth century," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 475-493, December.
    3. Ingrid Henriksen & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2012. "The strange birth of liberal Denmark: Danish trade protection and the growth of the dairy industry since the mid‐nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 65(2), pages 770-788, May.
    4. Peter Sandholt Jensen & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard, 2018. "‘Getting to Denmark’: the Role of Elites for Development," Working Papers 0125, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    5. Leifeld, Philip, 2013. "texreg: Conversion of Statistical Model Output in R to LATEX and HTML Tables," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 55(i08).
    6. Nina Boberg-Fazlić & Paul Sharp, 2024. "Immigrant Communities and Knowledge Spillovers: Danish Americans and the Development of the Dairy Industry in the United States," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 102-146, January.
    7. Henriksen, Ingrid & Hviid, Morten, 2005. "Diffusion of new technology and complementary best practice: A case study," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 365-397, December.
    8. Ingrid Henriksen & Eoin McLaughlin & Paul Sharp, 2015. "Contracts and cooperation: the relative failure of the Irish dairy industry in the late nineteenth century reconsidered," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 19(4), pages 412-431.
    9. Henriksen, Ingrid, 1999. "Avoiding lock-in: Cooperative creameries in Denmark, 1882–1903," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 57-78, April.
    10. Henriksen, Ingrid & Hviid, Morten & Sharp, Paul, 2012. "Law and Peace: Contracts and the Success of the Danish Dairy Cooperatives," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(1), pages 197-224, March.
    11. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2019. "Accounting for the wealth of Denmark: a case study of Smithian growth using the emergence of modern accounting in Danish dairying," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 659-697, July.
    12. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2017. "A quest for useful knowledge: the early development of agricultural accounting in Denmark and Northern Germany," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 73-99, January.
    13. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2015. "Just add milk: a productivity analysis of the revolutionary changes in nineteenth-century Danish dairying," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(4), pages 1132-1153, November.
    14. Ekaterina Khaustova & Paul Sharp, 2015. "A Note on Danish Living Standards through Historical Wage Series, 1731-1913," Working Papers 0081, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    15. repec:cge:wacage:2016 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Elena S. Korchmina & Paul Sharp, 2020. "Denmark and Russia: What can we learn from the historical comparison of two great Arctic agricultural empires?," Russian Journal of Economics, ARPHA Platform, vol. 7(2), pages 105-118, July.
    17. Kristin Ranestad & Paul Sharp, 2023. "Success through failure? Four centuries of searching for Danish coal," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 65(8), pages 1341-1365, November.
    18. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    19. Paul Sharp & Ingrid Henriksen & Markus Lampe, 2011. "The role of technology and institutions for growth: Danish creameries in the late-19th century," Working Papers 11028, Economic History Society.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Jeanet Bentzen & Nina Boberg-Fazlic & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard & Christian Vedel, 2023. "Holy Cows and Spilt Milk - The Impact of Religious Conflict on Firm-Level Productivity," Working Papers 0245, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    2. Sharp, Paul & Henriques, Sofia Teives & Tsoukli, Xanthi & Vedel, Christian, 2021. "Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability: Danish Butter Factories in the Face of Coal Shortages," CEPR Discussion Papers 16769, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Creameries; Denmark; productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N53 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N54 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: 1913-
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness

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