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The Transformation of Industrial Apprenticeship in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Daniel Jacoby
Daniel Jacoby
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Washington, Bothell, WA 98122.
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Extract

Between the 1880s and 1930s, apprenticeship was transformed from an institution dominated by employers to one dominated by unions. Prior to this transformation, employers leveraged their ability to hire, fire, and discipline at will by requiring apprentices to post forfeitable performance bonds. Despite their financial interest in the resolution of contract disputes, employers who withheld employees' bonds judged their own cases. Agency theory helps explain the use and abuse of bonding schemes and their role in the subsequent transformation of apprenticeship.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , December 1991 , pp. 887 - 910
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1991

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