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Biological Innovation and Productivity Growth in the Antebellum Cotton Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2008

ALAN L. OLMSTEAD  and
PAUL W. RHODE
ALAN L. OLMSTEAD
Affiliation:
Distinguished Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute of Governmental Affairs, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616–8617, and member of the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics. E-mail: [email protected].
PAUL W. RHODE
Affiliation:
McClelland Professor of Economics, Eller College of Management, The University of Arizona, 1130 E. Helen Street, P.O. Box 210108, Tucson, AZ 85721–0108, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

The cliometrics literature on slave efficiency has generally focused on static questions. We take a decidedly more dynamic approach. Drawing on the records of 142 plantations with 509 crops years, we show that the average daily cotton-picking rate increased about fourfold between 1801 and 1862. We argue that the development and diffusion of new cotton varieties were the primary sources of the increased efficiency. These findings have broad implications for understanding the South's preeminence in the world cotton market, the pace of westward expansion, and the importance of indigenous technological innovation.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 68 , Issue 4 , December 2008 , pp. 1123 - 1171
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2008

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