Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Savings in the United States, 1835 - 1853

这项研究试图澄清我们对美国工业革命期间储蓄行为的理解。该项目编制了一个新的纵向数据集，其中包括1835年至1853年期间产业工人收入和储蓄的每月观察数据，这些数据来自两个以前未开发的储蓄来源和工资记录。每月的工资记录来自马萨诸塞州洛厄尔的大型纺织品制造商汉密尔顿制造公司。这些工资记录与洛厄尔储蓄机构的个人储蓄账户记录相联系，提供了涵盖1835年至1853年的数千个个人收入-储蓄历史。这是第一项对美国工业革命期间的个人储蓄率和储蓄趋势进行精确估计的研究，样本主要由独立的女性工人组成。新的收入储蓄数据集允许计算美国早期工业劳动力的储蓄率，并分析女性和男性、年龄段和工作类别之间的储蓄率差异。此外，这项研究还评估了在流动性有限、不容易获得信贷的劳动力中，储蓄在多大程度上被用来平稳消费。该项目为分析19世纪至今储蓄率变化的长期趋势奠定了基础。此前，由于缺乏关于19世纪储蓄的数据，美国对个人储蓄行为的跨期研究一直受到阻碍。利用19世纪普通美国人的收入和储蓄方面的知识，这项研究可能会揭示美国最近个人储蓄率下降的一些情况，重点是获得信贷的影响。出于保密考虑，不可能使用行政记录测试当代工人中的某些储蓄现象。该项目使用不受此类担忧影响的历史数据，对于了解信贷市场受到限制的发展中经济体工人的储蓄行为可能有价值。此外，为该项目收集的公共使用数据集促进了过去和现在不同流动性受限产业工人群体之间对金融中介作用的理解，因此对于与早期工业劳动力市场、发展经济学和人力资源实践相关的各种领域的研究、教学和政策制定具有重要意义。

This research seeks to clarify our understanding of savings behavior during the American Industrial Revolution. The project compiles a new longitudinal dataset consisting of monthly observations on industrial workers' earnings and savings over the years 1835 to 1853 from two, previously untapped, sources of savings and payroll records. Monthly payroll records come from the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, a large textile manufacturer in Lowell, Massachusetts. These payroll records linked with individual savings account records from the Lowell Institution for Savings provide thousands of individual earnings-savings histories covering 1835 to 1853. This is the first study to precisely estimate personal savings rates and savings trends during the American Industrial Revolution for a demographic sample predominately composed of independent female workers. The new earnings-savings dataset allows for the calculation of savings rates among America's early industrial workforce and for the analysis of differential savings rates among women and men, age cohorts, and job classes. In addition, this study assesses the extent to which savings were used to smooth consumption among a liquidity constrained workforce that did not have easy access to credit. This project lays the foundation for analyzing long-run trends in savings rate changes from the 19th century to the present. Previously, intertemporal study of personal savings behavior in the United States has been hampered by the lack of data on nineteenth century savings. Using what is learned about earnings and savings of ordinary nineteenth century Americans, this study may shed some light on the recent decline in the personal savings rate in the United States, focusing on the impact of access to credit.Testing for certain savings phenomena among contemporary workers using administrative records is impossible due to confidentiality concerns. This project's use of historical data not subject to such concerns could be of value in learning about the savings behaviors of workers in developing economies where credit markets are constrained. In addition, the public-use dataset collected for this project promotes understanding about the role of financial intermediation among different cohorts of liquidity constrained industrial workers in the past and present, and is therefore relevant for research, teaching, and policy-making on a variety of areas relating to early industrial labor markets, development economics, and human resources practices.