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The Location of the UK Cotton Textiles Industry in 1838: a Quantitative Analysis

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  • Crafts, Nicholas
  • Wolf, Nikolaus

Abstract

We examine the geography of UK cotton textiles in 1838 to test claims about why the industry came to be so heavily concentrated in Lancashire. Our analysis considers both first and second nature geography including the availability of water power, humidity, coal prices, market access and sunk costs. We show that some of these characteristics have substantial explanatory power. Moreover, we exploit the change from water to steam power to show that the persistent effect of first nature characteristics on industry location can be explained by a combination of sunk costs and agglomeration effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Crafts, Nicholas & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2013. "The Location of the UK Cotton Textiles Industry in 1838: a Quantitative Analysis," CEPR Discussion Papers 9626, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9626
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agglomeration; Cotton textiles; Geography; Industry location;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N63 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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