Premium
THE ROLE OF TRANSPORTATION IN U.S. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: 1840–1860 *
Author(s) -
Herrendorf Berthold,
Schmitz, Jr. James A.,
Teixeira Arilton
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international economic review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.658
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1468-2354
pISSN - 0020-6598
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2354.2012.00697.x
Subject(s) - welfare , transportation industry , distribution (mathematics) , economics , population , business , transport engineering , engineering , market economy , mathematical analysis , demography , mathematics , sociology
We return to two questions concerning the 19th century U.S. transportation revolution. First, to what extent were transportation improvements responsible for the large changes in the regional distribution of population in the United States and, within regions, for the changes in industry structure? Second, how important were transportation improvements for welfare gains? We find that transport improvements were the key factor driving where people lived and what industry they worked in. We also find that transport improvements were important for welfare gains: Gains over 1840–1860 would have been only half as large if there had been no transportation improvements.