Australia's Bankrupt Chinese Furniture Manufacturers, 1880–1930

The proprietors of almost 100 Chinese furniture factories in Australia went bankrupt during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With a substantial stake in furniture production for decades following the gold rushes of the 1850s and 1860s, Chinese furniture factory operators were vilified and legislated against in a push for ‘White‐Australian’ industrial advancement. Historians have consistently concentrated on such campaigns when explaining Chinese‐Australian business failures of this period. Yet informed principally by their bankruptcy court testimony, this paper contends that Chinese furniture manufacturers went bankrupt largely because of economic difficulties and, thus, failures are not sufficiently explained by ‘White Australia’.     

Trust,religion, and cooperation in western agriculture, 1880–1930

This article explores the role of culture in encouraging the diffusion of cooperation for the production and marketing of agricultural products, an organizational innovation that can be related to technical progress in the rural sector and higher living standards for farmers. The results of the zero‐inflated negative binomial (ZINB) pooled regressions show that trust and religion were significant determinants of the diffusion of cooperatives among farmers in western countries. Results of the logit portion of these regressions suggest that the density of production was positively related to cooperation and that cooperation decreased where higher inequality in land distribution predominated.     

Migrants’ self‐selection in the early stages of modern economic growth,Spain (1880–1930)

Drawing on a large database from the register of inhabitants of Madrid, this article confirms that the literacy levels of internal migrants moving to the Spanish capital city in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were higher than that of those who remained in their provinces of origin. This article also explores the different factors influencing the nature and intensity of the selection process. The empirical exercise stresses that the stock of previous migration was a fundamental factor in allowing less literate individuals to join the migration process as well. Interestingly, distance to Madrid hardly affected the profile of male migrants, but it was a strong influence on female migration, although its importance diminished over time. Lastly, the results presented here show that other internal destinations were attracting different types of migrants, often resulting in negative self‐selection.     

The industrial retardation of southern cities, 1860–1880

Industrial retardation of the South is traced to the southern slave plantation with its vested interest in labor, whereas the Midwest joined the manufacturing belt based on the extensive industrial demands derived from the free family farm with its vested interest in land. The analyses focus on 304 cities in the East, Midwest, and South for the period 1860–1880. Industries in the published censuses were given two-digit SIC codes. The results demonstrate that midwestern cities had significantly larger industrial sectors and different specializations than southern cities by 1860. During the 1860s midwestern cities' industrial growth substantially outpaced southern cities, and differences between the two regions' cities continued to grow up to 1880.     

Making sense of immigration policy: Argentina, 1870–1930

The aim of this article is to disentangle the different forces that shaped Argentinian immigration policy from 1870 to 1930. A new index of immigration policy is presented, showing how immigration restrictions increased over time but, in contrast with the US, Argentina remained open to mass migration until the 1930s. The quantitative evidence presented here suggests that there were economic reasons to restrict immigration prior to the 1930s, namely rising inequality, the closing of the frontier, and the declining relative quality of immigrants. A political economy interpretation helps to understand the long‐run evolution of immigration policy. Labour interests could not be translated into Parliament in a direct way. A large share of workers did not have the right to vote simply because they were foreigners. Inequality influenced immigration policy through social unrest since those negatively affected by massive immigration developed alternative actions: general strikes, labour unrest, and violence. Contrary to what economic theory would have predicted, anti‐immigration legislation came from Argentinian capital and landowners who feared political and social unrest.     

Industrial districts and manufacturing linkages: Chicago's printing industry, 1880–19501

In this article, it is argued that the North American industrial district was a metropolitan‐centred one that drew extensively on regional resources, skills, capital, and information. The Chicago printing industry between 1880 and 1950 is used as a case study to demonstrate that industries were linked at various scales: from the factory district to the metropolis and the region. A wide range of sources (manufacturing censuses, government reports, industrial journals, bankruptcy records) is employed to establish how the intricate set of relations and transactions formed metropolitan industrial districts.     

Regional wage convergence in Spain 1850–1930

This paper presents a new regional database on real wages for Spain from 1850 to 1930. This evidence is used to analyze the evolution of wages across regions and occupations. Substantial wage convergence occurred from 1850 to 1914, despite low rates of internal migration. World War I and the subsequent globalization backlash were associated with a spectacular increase in wage differentials. However, real wage convergence across Spanish provinces resumed during the 1920s, this time accompanied by high rates of internal migration.