Mechanization, transportation, and the location of industry in Germany 1846-1907

This dissertation investigates the question: why do some regions industrialize and others do not? The large variation in the timing and success of industrialization across countries and across regions within these countries suggests that some places had and still have better conditions for industrial development than others. Debates about this variation in industrial development have identified natural resource endowments, relative factor prices, the quality of political institutions, entrepreneurial attitudes, and agricultural productivity as key factors for industrialization. Allen (2009) argues that the British Industrial Revolution was the result of high wages and cheap coal, which led to investment in labor saving technologies. Clark (2008) proposes changes in the reproductive pattern as the reason for British productivity growth after 1800. Mokyr (2009) and McCloskey (2010) emphasize the role of a radical shift in scientific thinking and its application to business as the explanation for rapid technological progress.