The Peculiar Productivity History of American Blast Furnaces, 1840–1913

Abstract

This paper measures the growth and relative levels of total factor productivity in the American, British, French, Belgian, and German mineral fuel pig iron industries from 1840 to 1909. The American history was peculiar in that there was little productivity growth betwen 1840 and 1870 and then rapid growth until 1890. Regression models are developed to identify the techniques responsible for the American advance. Much of the American experience is explained by changes in the composition of the available iron ores. An assessment of the international transferability of late-nineteenth-century blast furnace technology is offered.