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Resolving the Anglo-German Industrial Productivity Puzzle, 1895-1935 : A Response to Professor Ritschl

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  • Broadberry, Stephen

    (Department of Economics, University of Warwick,)

  • Burhop, Carsten

    (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods)

Abstract

This paper offers a critical appraisal of the claim of Ritschl (2008) to have found a “possible resolution” to what he calls the “Anglo-German industrial productivity puzzle”. To understand the origins of this term, it is necessary to describe some recent developments in comparisons of industrial labour productivity between Britain and Germany. The Anglo-German industrial productivity puzzle really arose as the result of a new industrial production index produced by Ritschl (2004), which differed very substantially from the widely used index of Hoffmann (1965). Broadberry and Burhop (2007) pointed out that if the Ritschl (2004) index is combined with an index of German employment from Hoffmann (1965) and time series of UK output and employment from Feinstein (1972), it implies an implausibly high German labour productivity lead over Britain in 1907, when projected back from a widely accepted Germany/UK labour productivity benchmark for 1935/36.

Suggested Citation

  • Broadberry, Stephen & Burhop, Carsten, 2008. "Resolving the Anglo-German Industrial Productivity Puzzle, 1895-1935 : A Response to Professor Ritschl," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 848, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wrk:warwec:848
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Broadberry, Stephen & Burhop, Carsten, 2007. "Comparative Productivity in British and German Manufacturing Before World War II: Reconciling Direct Benchmark Estimates and Time Series Projections," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(2), pages 315-349, June.
    2. Ritschl, Albrecht, 2004. "Spurious growth in German output data, 1913—1938," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 201-223, August.
    3. Fremdling, Rainer & Jong, Herman de & Timmer, Marcel P., 2007. "Censuses compared. A New Benchmark for British and German Manufacturing 1935/1936," GGDC Research Memorandum GD-90, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    4. Ritschl, Albrecht, 2008. "The Anglo-German productivity puzzle, 1895-1935: a restatement and a possible resolution," Economic History Working Papers 22309, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    5. Fremdling Rainer, 2007. "German Industrial Employment 1925,1933,1936 and 1939. A New Benchmark for 1936 and a Note on Hoffmann's Tales," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 48(2), pages 171-196, December.
    6. Timothy Leunig, 2003. "A British industrial success: productivity in the Lancashire and New England cotton spinning industries a century ago," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 56(1), pages 90-117, February.
    7. Ritschl, Albrecht, 2008. "The Anglo-German Industrial Productivity Puzzle, 1895–1935: A Restatement and a Possible Resolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 535-565, June.
    8. Broadberry, S N & Fremdling, Rainer, 1990. "Comparative Productivity in British and German Industry 1907-37," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 52(4), pages 403-421, Special I.
    9. Broadberry,Steve N., 2005. "The Productivity Race," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521023580, January.
    10. Broadberry, Stephen N., 1993. "Manufacturing and the Convergence Hypothesis: What the Long-Run Data Show," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 772-795, December.
    11. repec:dgr:rugggd:gd-94b is not listed on IDEAS
    12. repec:dgr:rugggd:gd-90 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Ritschl Albrecht & Spoerer Mark, 1997. "Das Bruttosozialprodukt in Deutschland nach den amtlichen Volkseinkommens- und Sozialproduktsstatistiken 1901-1995," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 38(2), pages 27-54, December.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Crafts, Nicholas, 2020. "British Relative Economic Decline in the Aftermath of German Unification," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1295, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    3. Veenstra, Joost, 2015. "Output growth in German manufacturing, 1907–1936. A reinterpretation of time-series evidence," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 38-49.
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    5. Wilfried Kisling & Antonio Tena Junguito, 2019. "German trade finance in South America during the second industrial revolution. La Batalla de Buenos Aires, 1875-1913," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _171, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. Cristiano Andrea Ristuccia & Adam Tooze, 2013. "Machine tools and mass production in the armaments boom: Germany and the United States, 1929–44," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(4), pages 953-974, November.
    7. Joost Veenstra & Herman Jong, 2016. "A Tale of Two Tails: Establishment Size and Labour Productivity in United States and German Manufacturing at the Start of the Twentieth Century," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(2), pages 198-220, July.
    8. Rainer Fremdling & Reiner Staeglin, 2014. "Editor's choice Output, national income, and expenditure: an input–output table of Germany in 1936," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 18(4), pages 371-397.

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