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

本研究旨在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，包括1835年至1853年间产业工人收入和储蓄的月度观察，这些数据来自两个以前未开发的储蓄和工资记录来源。每月的工资单记录来自汉密尔顿制造公司，这是一家位于马萨诸塞州洛厄尔的大型纺织品制造商。这些工资单记录与洛厄尔储蓄机构的个人储蓄账户记录相关联，提供了1835年至1853年数千份个人收入-储蓄历史记录。这是第一个精确估计美国工业革命期间个人储蓄率和储蓄趋势的研究，其人口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，并分析男女、年龄群和工作阶层之间的储蓄率差异。此外，本研究还评估了在流动性受限的劳动力中，储蓄在多大程度上被用于平稳消费，这些劳动力不容易获得信贷。这个项目为分析19世纪至今储蓄率变化的长期趋势奠定了基础。以前，由于缺乏19世纪储蓄的数据，对美国个人储蓄行为的跨期研究一直受到阻碍。利用对19世纪普通美国人的收入和储蓄的了解，这项研究可能会对最近美国个人储蓄率的下降有所启示，重点关注获得信贷的影响。由于保密问题，用行政记录来检测当代工人的某些储蓄现象是不可能的。本项目使用的历史数据不受此类担忧的影响，可能对了解信贷市场受限的发展中经济体工人的储蓄行为有价值。此外，为本项目收集的公共使用数据集促进了对金融中介在过去和现在不同流动性受限产业工人群体中的作用的理解，因此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、教学和决策相关。

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.