IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/wpaper/22471.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Melting markets: the rise and decline of the Anglo-Norwegian ice trade, 1850-1920

Author

Listed:
  • Blain, Bodil Bjerkvik

Abstract

By the late 19th century, the export of natural ice from Norway to Britain was a major trade, fuelled by the growing British consumption of ice. Although new technology eventually allowed the production of artificial ice, natural ice retained a strong market position until World War I. This dissertation investigates the rise and fall of the Anglo-Norwegian ice trade, including the reasons behind the Norwegian success (comparative advantage, proximity to Britain and long-standing trade relations with Britain) and the rapid and persistent growth of British consumption of ice (high urbanisation, and growth of food-processing industries). Furthermore, it seeks to explain the continued use of natural ice long after the introduction of artificial ice and mechanical refrigeration. Seasonal aspects and supply shocks were instrumental in promoting technological change, but the diffusion of the new technologies varied across industries, and was affected by economic and social factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Blain, Bodil Bjerkvik, 2006. "Melting markets: the rise and decline of the Anglo-Norwegian ice trade, 1850-1920," Economic History Working Papers 22471, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:22471
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/22471/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard R. Nelson & Sidney G. Winter & Herbert L. Schuette, 1976. "Technical Change in an Evolutionary Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(1), pages 90-118.
    2. Mokyr, Joel, 1992. "Technological Inertia in Economic History," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(2), pages 325-338, June.
    3. Nelson, Richard R. & Winter, Sidney G., 1993. "In search of useful theory of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 108-108, April.
    4. Scott, Peter, 2001. "Path Dependence and Britain's "Coal Wagon Problem"," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 366-385, July.
    5. S. J. Liebowitz & Stephen E. Margolis, 1994. "Network Externality: An Uncommon Tragedy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 133-150, Spring.
    6. Cowan, Ruth Schwartz, 1997. "A Social History of American Technology," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195046052.
    7. Rosenberg, Nathan, 1972. "Factors affecting the diffusion of technology," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 3-33.
    8. Rosenberg, Nathan, 1969. "The Direction of Technological Change: Inducement Mechanisms and Focusing Devices," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(1), pages 1-24, Part I Oc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maarten Bosker & Eltjo Buringh, 2020. "Ice(berg) Transport Costs," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(629), pages 1262-1287.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Demoussis, Michael & Giannakopoulos, Nicholas, 2006. "The dynamics of home computer ownership in Greece," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 73-86, March.
    2. Kim, Dong-hyu & Lee, Heejin & Kwak, Jooyoung, 2017. "Standards as a driving force that influences emerging technological trajectories in the converging world of the Internet and things: An investigation of the M2M/IoT patent network," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1234-1254.
    3. Enrico Santarelli, 1995. "Directed Graph Theory And The Economic Analysis Of Innovation," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 111-126, June.
    4. Sidney G. Winter, 2002. "Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Production," LEM Papers Series 2002/27, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    5. Ruttan, Vernon W., 2008. "General Purpose Technology, Revolutionary Technology, and Technological Maturity," Staff Papers 6206, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    6. Rachel Ngai & Roberto Samaniego, 2011. "Accounting for Research and Productivity Growth Across Industries," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 14(3), pages 475-495, July.
    7. Michael G. Jacobides & Sidney G. Winter, 2012. "Capabilities: Structure, Agency, and Evolution," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(5), pages 1365-1381, October.
    8. Paul Windrum, 2013. "Multi-agent framework for understanding the success and failure of ServPPINs," Chapters, in: Faïz Gallouj & Luis Rubalcaba & Paul Windrum (ed.), Public–Private Innovation Networks in Services, chapter 4, pages 88-112, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    10. repec:bla:jecsur:v:12:y:1998:i:2:p:131-76 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. L. Rachel Ngai & Roberto M. Samaniego, 2006. "An R&D-Based Model of Multi-Sector Growth," CEP Discussion Papers dp0762, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. Ruttan, Vernon W., 1996. "Sources Of Technical Change: Induced Innovation, Evolutionary Theory And Path Dependence," Bulletins 12974, University of Minnesota, Economic Development Center.
    13. Hyun Ju Jung, 2020. "Recombination sources and breakthrough inventions: university-developed technology versus firm-developed technology," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 1121-1166, August.
    14. Ron Boschma & Koen Frenken, 2009. "Some Notes on Institutions in Evolutionary Economic Geography," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(2), pages 151-158, April.
    15. Tiziana Di Cimbrini & Fabrizio Maturo & Stefania Migliori & Francesco Paolone, 2018. "Innovation Propensity in the Specialized Suppliers Industry," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(10), pages 129-148, October.
    16. Scazzieri, Roberto, 2014. "A structural theory of increasing returns," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 75-88.
    17. Josephine V Rekers, 2016. "What triggers innovation diffusion? Intermediary organizations and geography in cultural and science-based industries," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(6), pages 1058-1075, September.
    18. Klevorick, Alvin K. & Levin, Richard C. & Nelson, Richard R. & Winter, Sidney G., 1995. "On the sources and significance of interindustry differences in technological opportunities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 185-205, March.
    19. Murmann, Johann Peter & Frenken, Koen, 2006. "Toward a systematic framework for research on dominant designs, technological innovations, and industrial change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 925-952, September.
    20. Ngai, Liwa Rachel & Samaniego, Roberto, 2007. "On the Long run Determinants of Industry TFP Growth Rates," CEPR Discussion Papers 6408, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    21. Mary Tripsas, 2008. "Customer preference discontinuities: a trigger for radical technological change," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2-3), pages 79-97.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:22471. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager on behalf of EH Dept. (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/chlseuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.