000145663 001__ 145663
000145663 005__ 20241119143835.0
000145663 020__ $$a978-3-031-06477-7
000145663 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.1007/978-3-031-06477-7_16
000145663 037__ $$aBOOK-2024-188
000145663 041__ $$aeng
000145663 100__ $$aSilvestre, Javier$$b
000145663 245__ $$aProductivity, Mortality, and Technology in European and US Coal Mining, 1800-1913
000145663 250__ $$a1st ed.
000145663 260__ $$aCham$$bSpringer$$c2022
000145663 300__ $$a345-371
000145663 506__ $$aall-rights-reserved
000145663 520__ $$aEuropean coal production underwent a period of dramatic increase from the early nineteenth century to 1913. A consensus exists, however, for a depiction of the coal industry as, to a high degree, technologically stagnant throughout the long nineteenth century. Macro-inventions, or general-purpose technologies, in fact, appeared at either end of the period. Steam power to drive water pumps and shaft elevators was introduced in the eighteenth century, while the application of mechanical power to different tasks and the electrification of mines were advances that became pervasive in the twentieth century. In the interregnum, therefore, the increase in European coal production would have mainly been the result of adding more labor rather than developing new technology. This paper aims to revise this interpretation. First, long-term series of labor productivity and fatality rates data are presented for the four main coal-producing European nations, Great Britain, Belgium, France, and Germany. Second, a link between improvements in Europe both in productivity and safety in conjunction with a series of “small-scale” technological innovations is proposed. These technologies, which emerged and diffused to affect different aspects of mining production, did not involve huge investments in labor-replacing capital. They were, for the most part, complementary to labor and closely related to questions of safety. A comparison of both estimates, labor productivity and safety, for the European countries is also established with those of the United States, a latecomer to the exploitation of coal resources.
000145663 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
000145663 773__ $$tStandard of Living. Studies in Economic History
000145663 8560_ $$fagroca@unizar.es
000145663 8564_ $$s505074$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/145663/files/BOOK-2024-188.pdf$$ySin acceso$$zSin acceso
000145663 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:145663$$pbooks
000145663 980__ $$aBOOK$$bCAPITULOS$$b