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Technology Adoption and Productivity Growth: Evidence from Industrialization in France

Author

Listed:
  • Réka Juhász
  • Mara P. Squicciarini
  • Nico Voigtländer
Abstract
New technologies tend to be adopted slowly and – even after being adopted – take time to be reflected in higher aggregate productivity. One prominent explanation for these patterns is the need to reorganize production, which often goes hand-in-hand with major technological breakthroughs. We study a unique setting that allows us to examine the empirical relevance of this explanation: the adoption of mechanized cotton spinning during the First Industrial Revolution in France. The new technology required reorganizing production by moving workers from their homes to the newly-formed factories. Using a novel hand-collected plant-level dataset from French archival sources, we show that productivity growth in mechanized cotton spinning was driven by the disappearance of plants in the lower tail – in contrast to other sectors that did not need to reorganize when new technologies were introduced. We provide evidence that this was driven by organizational challenges such as developing optimal plant layout. A process of ‘trial and error’ led to initially low and widely dispersed productivity, and – in the subsequent decades – to high productivity growth as knowledge diffused through the economy and new entrants adopted improved methods of organizing production.

Suggested Citation

  • Réka Juhász & Mara P. Squicciarini & Nico Voigtländer, 2020. "Technology Adoption and Productivity Growth: Evidence from Industrialization in France," NBER Working Papers 27503, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27503
    Note: DAE DEV EFG POL PR
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Marianna Epicoco & Magali Jaoul-Grammare & Anne Plunket, 2022. "Radical technologies, recombinant novelty and productivity growth: a cliometric approach," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 673-711, April.
    2. Réka Juhász & Mara P. Squicciarini & Nico Voigtländer, 2020. "Away from Home and Back: Coordinating (Remote) Workers in 1800 and 2020," NBER Working Papers 28251, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Tania Babina & Anastassia Fedyk & Alex X. He & James Hodson, 2023. "Firm Investments in Artificial Intelligence Technologies and Changes in Workforce Composition," NBER Chapters, in: Technology, Productivity, and Economic Growth, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Nicola Visonà & Luca Riccetti, 2024. "Simulating the industrial revolution: a history-friendly model," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 19(4), pages 831-862, October.
    5. Javier Silvestre & John E. Murray, 2023. "Determinants in the adoption of a non-labor-substitution technology: mechanical ventilation in West Virginia coal mines, 1898–1907," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(3), pages 467-500, September.
    6. Carlos Esteban Posada, 2020. "Cambio técnico y política económica: la teoría y el caso colombiano (1950-2019)," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 18506, Universidad EAFIT.
    7. Tommaso Giommoni & Gabriel Loumeau, 2022. "Taxation with a Grain of Salt: The Long-Term Effect of Fiscal Policy on Local Development," CESifo Working Paper Series 9997, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology

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