Data and Code for: "Rage Against the Machines: Labor-Saving Technology and Unrest in Industrializing England."

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Bruno Caprettini, University of Zurich (Switzerland); Hans-Joachim Voth, University of Zurich (Switzerland)

Version: View help for Version V1

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Project Citation:

Caprettini, Bruno, and Voth, Hans-Joachim. Data and Code for: “Rage Against the Machines: Labor-Saving Technology and Unrest in Industrializing England.” Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2020. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2020-08-27. https://doi.org/10.3886/E117044V1

Project Description

Summary: Can new technology cause social instability and unrest? We examine the famous "Captain Swing" riots in 1830s England. Newly-collected data on threshing machine diffusion shows that labor-saving technology was associated with more riots. We instrument technology adoption with the share of heavy soils in a parish: IV estimates demonstrate that threshing machines were an important cause of unrest. Where alternative employment opportunities softened the blow of new technology, there was less rioting. Conversely, where enclosures had impoverished workers, the effect of threshing machines on rioting was amplified.

Funding Sources: Swiss National Foundation (PZ00P1_173998); Swiss National Foundation (100018_156197); Richard Büchner Stiftung

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: labor-saving technology; social instability; riots; welfare support; agricultural technology; factor prices; technological change

JEL Classification:
      J21 Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
      J43 Agricultural Labor Markets
      N33 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: Pre-1913
      P16 Capitalist Systems: Political Economy

Geographic Coverage: England and Wales

Time Period(s): 1/1/1800 – 12/31/1831 (Swing riots of 1830-32)

Collection Date(s): 3/1/2016 – 1/3/2020

Universe: English and Welsh historical parishes.

Data Type(s): aggregate data; census/enumeration data; geographic information system (GIS) data; observational data; program source code; survey data; text

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Published Versions

V1 [2020-08-27]

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DDI 2.5

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