Li 1 Amelia Li Daniel Bogart Econ 164C 25 January 2024 Writing Assignment 1 Olmstead, A. L., & Rhode, P. W. (2008). Biological Innovation and Productivity Growth in the Antebellum Cotton Economy. The Journal of Economic History, 68(4), 1123–1171. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40056471 1. What economic and historical issues do the authors address in their paper? The development of cotton breed, yields, and pick-up efficiency make South become dominant in world’s cotton market, and the expansion to West; it explains how technological revolution improves the economy for a country. It is noy only affect South’s economy, but also make America plays an important role in world’s cotton market. Britain tries to catch up with American cotton economy in Britain’s asian colonies; however, it did not work: most significantly in America’s South. The boom in cotton market has characteristics regionally. Also, the introduction of Mexican hybrids makes better yields and cotton quality. Mexican hybrids also has relatively easier for picking up than other breeds, which leads to the less demand of labor during the peak of harvesting. Also, the introduction of the new breed leads the harvesting rate way higher than using mechanics, such as Eli Whitney’s invention in cotton gin in 1793, before the Civil War. Li 2 2. What are the data and the sources? Figure 1 and Table 1 retrive from Carter, Susan et al., eds. Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Times to the Present. Millennial ed. 5 Vols. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. It is a secondary source, the data might have basis. Figure 2 is from Hargrett Library Broadside Collection, 1850-1859, Mss. 2622, Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Georgia. Figure 2 is David Dickson’s 1854 seed advertisement: a typical advertisement for seed producer in the 1850s of cotton seeds. Authors want to show how planters at that time try to innovate cotton seeds for better cotton production, and how planters compete in innovating for higher-yield-rate seeds. Figure 3 is from Eustatia Plantation, Mississippi, Account Book 1861, Ohio Historical Center Archives. Figure 3 is an example of a complete page of Affleck book. It has information about the slaves’ names, ages, vales, briths and deaths, stocks and inventories, weight of single cotton bale,... It is a record from he planataion, so it provides realistic data on the amount of cotton that slaves in Eustatia Plantation, Mississippi picked in the week of October 22, 1860 – shows the efficiency of each slave. Figure 4 is a map of plantation distribution, and it is from Compiled from Olmstead and Rhode, Cotton Plantation Dataset, 2008. The map intuitively shows us the distribution of plantations in U.S. at that time. Figure 5 shows us among the region and the mean daily pick up rate of upland cotton and sea island cotton. Figure 5 and Table 2 are from Compiled from Olmstead and Rhode, Cotton Plantation Dataset, 2008. Table 2 focus on comparing the pick-up rate of upland cotton and sea cotton in different factors, such as male slave, non-peak time, New South… Table 2 comes from authors’ own calculations, and it is pretty reliable. Li 3 3. What methods do the authors use? Figure 1 shows from 1790 to 1860, cotton production, slave and real price in 1859 dollars. There are three lines: for cotton production in 1,000 bales, it increases from 1790 to 1860, dramatically during 1790 to around 1802, the enhancement of cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 may be one of a the factor increases the production, the rest of the years cotton production increases 6.6% annually with the price of cotton decreases 5.5% per year; real price of prime-age male field hands slows increases, it also shows that the large labor demand is always needed for picking cotton consistently; real price of 480 lb. Cotton bale decreases a bit but keeps in a balanced level through the time period. In 1800-1820, 1820-1840, 1840-1860, the increasing of cotton production is faster than enslaved labor force. In Table 1, from 1800 to 1860, in dual side, the real price of cotton decrease by 0.53%, which means the production grows by improving the cotton seeds, enhancement of saw gin, the development in transportation by the time makes the costs of transportation lower, the land in the South is more fertile… Statically, the plantations in South achieves self-sufficient of distribution of wealth and relatively efficient of enslaved labor. The reasons above all explain the rapid growth rate of cotton production in the South. Figure 5, Panel A shows mean daily pick up rate for Upland cotton; Panel B shows the mean daily pick up rate for Sea Island cotton. However, in Panel A there are 474 samples, in Panel B there are only 35 samples. The large differences is sample could lead to potential sampling bias and errors. 4. What is the main finding? Li 4 The main finding is the innovation in technology and biotechnology before the Civil War made the South’s agricultural production grow, specifically in cotton yields and labor efficiency, for example the introduction of Mexican hybrids, Eli Whitney’s enhancement of cotton gin, which makes South become dominant in world’s cotton market by the 1850s. It makes South can also determine cotton and slave prices in long term. Also, it emphasizes the characteristics of region: Britain could not surpass South’s cotton market share in Britain’s asian colonies. Local-specific economy should be considered in each region to better fit and grow their economy. The research shows the significance of considering of unique characteristics of each region’s economy for effective growth. 5. What do we learn about economic history and economics in general? Techononly and biological innovation is a thing that people have always done. The paper explains how technology and biological innovation change in cotton production. Healthy competitions among planters of seeds should also be encouraged: it is an incentive of innovating better seeds, such as easier for picking, less infested by fests, better yields. Since Briatin try to catch up with South, it is also showing there is a global competition. South exemplifies how they use local-regional advantages to boost their own economy, and dominant the world’s market. Other countries would also learn from the South, innovate technology that better fitting in their own regional situation. Labor efficiency is also closely associated with the innovation in technology: the amount of cotton being picked increase 2.3% per slave annually. The introduction of new breed increases picking efficiency, make labor are able to pick more cotton at same working hours. The new Li 5 breed is also easier for the labors to pick, so it also reduces the labor demand when it comes to peaked harvesting time, leading a more balanced working hours distribution.
