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

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  • Sukkoo Kim

Abstract

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.

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  • Sukkoo Kim, 2006. "Division of Labor and the Rise of Cities: Evidence from U.S. Industrialization, 1850-1880," NBER Working Papers 12246, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12246
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    Cited by:

    1. Atack, Jeremy & Margo, Robert A. & Rhode, Paul W., 2022. "Industrialization and urbanization in nineteenth century America," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Edward L. Glaeser & Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto & Kristina Tobio, 2014. "Cities, Skills and Regional Change," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 7-43, January.
    3. Klein, Alexander & Crafts, Nicholas, 2015. "Agglomeration Externalities and Productivity Growth : U.S. Cities in the Railroad Era, 1880-1930," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 235, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    4. Edward L. Glaeser & Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto & Kristina Tobio, 2010. "The Varieties of Regional Change," Working Papers 472, Barcelona School of Economics.
    5. Alexander Klein & Nicholas Crafts, 2015. "Agglomeration Economies and Productivity Growth: U.S. Cities, 1880-1930," Studies in Economics 1514, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    6. Sukkoo Kim, 2007. "Immigration, Industrial Revolution and Urban Growth in the United States, 1820-1920: Factor Endowments, Technology and Geography," NBER Working Papers 12900, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Hulya Dagdeviren & Jiayi Balasuriya & Christopher Nicholas, 2022. "Spatial dynamics of post-crisis deleveraging [Financial geography II: financial geographies of housing and real estate]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 1225-1246.
    8. Jedwab, Remi & Vollrath, Dietrich, 2015. "Urbanization without growth in historical perspective," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-21.
    9. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    10. Leppälä, Samuli & Desrochers, Pierre, 2010. "The division of labor need not imply regional specialization," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 74(1-2), pages 137-147, May.
    11. Dora L. Costa, 2014. "Leaders: Privilege, Sacrifice, Opportunity, and Personnel Economics in the American Civil War," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 437-462.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N6 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction
    • N9 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History
    • R3 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location

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    1. Historical Economic Geography

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