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The role of technology and institutions for growth: Danish creameries in the late nineteenth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2011

INGRID HENRIKSEN ,
MARKUS LAMPE  and
PAUL SHARP
INGRID HENRIKSEN
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen, Ingrid.Henriksen@econ.ku.dk
MARKUS LAMPE
Affiliation:
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, mlampe@clio.uc3m.es
PAUL SHARP
Affiliation:
Humboldt University/University of Copenhagen, paul.sharp@econ.ku.dk
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Abstract

We consider the relative contributions of changing technology and institutions for economic growth through the investigation of a natural experiment in history: the almost simultaneous introduction of the automatic cream separator and the cooperative ownership form in the Danish dairy industry from around 1880. Using a new database of statistics from creameries and the tool of stochastic frontier analysis, we find that both institutions and technology were important for the success of the Danish dairy industry and, by implication, the growth and early development of the Danish economy.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review of Economic History , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , December 2011 , pp. 475 - 493
Copyright
Copyright © European Historical Economics Society 2011

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