The above table provides the real wages for manufacturing workers in the New Eng

Question

The above table provides the real wages for manufacturing workers in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions between 1820 and 1860. By using real wages, we are able to compare wages across region and time.

What changes in manufacturing explain the growth in real wages during this period? Hint: Keep in mind wages are positively correlated with labor productivity. (5pts)

Looking at the wages in 1820, what do you observe when we compare the wages in the Middle Atlantic and New England? Provide specific examples from the chart. (5pts)

To explain the similarities in wages in the two regions, discuss how the impact of the transportation revolution on labor markets was similar to patterns in the good market observed in short answer question 2. (5pts)

UA0 s6 61| 3 2 9 6 2 7 8552856 NHi AT0 87419332 7788 : 40 63 59 64 se es-82 72 63 64 59 56876 7-3-0681 51357 90989 2 59 31 65 71 29 42 71 49 43 50 54 59 52 46 55 1 396 437 50445 2-1-3-1-0-1|||38 3-1 1-1 3 0-1 2 5 7-38 92233372232 1 151 8 91 0 1)

Explanation / Answer

First, we need to understand that in the production process, we have two factors, the labor factor and the capital. In the economic theory, it is stated that the price of any production factor must be equal to its marginal product (productivity).

Then, we know by history, that in this time, the production experienced radical changes thanks to innovations in machines and transportation means. In our case, the industrial revolution helped the workers to improve their productivity, because with better tools you can obtain a larger amount of production, that is, more production in the same time equals a bigger productivity.

First, in New England, real wages climbed faster than Middle Atlantic wages with an annually growth rate of 1.3-1.7 compared to the 1.2-1.6 of the Middle Atlantic.

The urban workers of New England started with smaller wage that their counterparts of the Atlantic accounting for 110 vs 111. This difference became bigger specially in 1832 where we see a 130-153 wage vs 150-176 of the middle Atlantic workers, but at the end, the urban wage of New England became bigger and also with a faster increase .

The opposite thing happened with the rural workers, where the Middle Atlantic labour force started with a smaller wage of 90 vs 95 of New England, but at the end of the period, the Middle Atlantic region ended up with a bigger salary thanks to a faster growth rate, 1.6-2.1 vs 1.3-1.8 of New England.

For the rest of the categories, New England had a faster growth than Middle Atlantic, specially in the small urban areas with a rate equal to 1.7-2.2. These workers experienced the faster growth in any region.

The revolution in transportation means signified a faster work mobility and the absorption of rural workers by the cities where the wages were bigger. This phenomenon signified a transformation of a rural led economy to an urban and industrialized one.Therefore, the growth pattern of real wages and the transportation revolution are similar in the sense that the urban areas were the winners in this economic transformation

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse T
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.