TY - JOUR AU - Atack,Jeremy AU - Bateman,Fred AU - Margo,Robert TI - Steam Power, Establishment Size, and Labor Productivity Growth in Nineteenth Century American Manufacturing JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 11931 PY - 2006 Y2 - January 2006 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11931 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11931.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Jeremy Atack Department of Economics Vanderbilt University VU Station B #351819 2301 Vanderbilt Place Nashville, TN 37235-1819 Tel: 615-343-2467 Fax: 615/343-8495 E-Mail: jeremy.atack@vanderbilt.edu Fred Bateman Department of Economics Brooks Hall University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602-6254 E-Mail: fbateman@terry.uga.edu Robert A. Margo Department of Economics Boston University 270 Bay State Road Boston, MA 02215 Tel: 617/353-6819 Fax: 617/343-8495 E-Mail: margora@bu.edu AB - We use establishment level data from the 1850-80 censuses of manufacturing to study the correlates of the use of steam power and the impact of steam power on labor productivity growth in nineteenth century American manufacturing. A key result is that establishment size mattered: large establishments, as measured by employment, were much more likely to use steam power than smaller establishments. Controlling for firm size, location, industry, and other establishment characteristics, steam powered establishments had higher labor productivity than establishments using hand or animal power, or water power. We also find that the impact of steam on labor productivity was increasing in establishment size. The diffusion of steam power was an important factor behind the growth of labor productivity, accounting for 22 to 41 percent of that growth between 1850 and 1880, depending on establishment size. ER -