Perfect Mechanics: Artisan Skills and the Origins of the Industrial Revolution

Abstract When it came to explaining their Industrial Revolution, contemporary observers were struck by Britain's large supply of mechanical skill. We build a simple model where a gradual rise in artisan skills in response to... [ view full abstract ]

Abstract
When it came to explaining their Industrial Revolution, contemporary observers were struck by Britain's large supply of mechanical skill. We build a simple model where a gradual rise in artisan skills in response to market integration causes a sudden transition from a low technology steady state to a high technology one: an Industrial Revolution. This model makes two specific predictions: that industrialization depends primarily on the availability of mechanical skill, and that skill, in turn, accumulates fastest in areas with low wages and existing industrial skills. We find that these predictions closely match the pattern of industrialization across the 41 counties of England. In particular, we find that the two variables number of mechanics and toolmakers in a county and the availability of water power, explain almost all of the variance in industrial employment in 1831; and that these skilled workers were concentrated in areas that, in the mid-eighteenth century, had low wages and a large supply of mechanical skill which we measure by the cost of becoming an apprentice watchmaker. Other factors such as literacy and proximity to coal offer no additional explanatory power.