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Using a new source of evidence we explore the mobility of mid-nineteenth century seamen. Among seamen born outside London, the tall, the literate and those who could remember the exact day, month and year when they were born, characteristics that we suggest mark them out as men with more choices in life, were more likely to migrate to London. Contrary to what might be inferred from contemporary descriptions of urban disamenities or from persistent differentials in mortality, London appears as a desirable destination for those who could choose. The conclusion must be that London was not so bad, and we should adjust our perception of the problems of urbanisation accordingly, with implications for the wider debate on the standard of living during the industrial revolution. The paper’s methodological interest is the use of height as an explanatory variable in the analysis of migration. Although correlated with other variables that are routinely used in anthropometric studies to indicate life chances, such as literacy and the ability to know and recall date of birth, height has empirical advantages over these alternatives in that it exhibits higher levels of significance. Moreover while literacy and heaping are in essence binary variables, height is a (near) continuous one, and one that allows us to test for linear and non-linear responses, as we do with interesting results in this paper. Perhaps the most fruitful use of height in historical analyses may turn out to be as an explanatory variable; at the very least such a research strategy provides anthropometric historians with further opportunities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article assesses train speeds in England and Wales 1843-1912. Trains were fast compared with coaches or walking, and the social saving of time saved grew over time to become over 10 percent of national income in 1912. Including fare savings as well, social savings were 14 percent of national income in 1912, with consumer surplus of 6 percent. Time savings dominated fare savings once railways became a new good: travel for the masses. Using the social savings-total factor productivity identity, we show that railways accounted for around a sixth of economy-wide productivity growth in this era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reexamines theories previously advanced to explain slow adoption of ring spinning in Lancashire, England. Survey of the literature on the slow adoption of ring spinning; Insufficiency of the standard dichotomy between vertically integrated and vertically specialized firms; Conclusions.

Presents a summary of a dissertation which focused on performance and technological choice of the largest cotton industries throughout the world prior to World War I. Installation of mule spinners by Lancashire firms; Analysis of the effect of transport costs on the choice of technology in Lancashire; Use of the direct level earning and employment data of the 1906 Enquiry to estimate a logistic regression model.

Presents abstracts of the article "Transport Improvements, Agglomeration Economies and City Productivity: From When Did Transport Improvements Raise British Wages?" by Nicholas Crafts, and Timothy Leunig.