Contemporary Data on the Diffusion and Productivity of Coal Mechanisation in Britain to 1939

A common feature of Britain's staple industries during the sixty years to 1939 was a rejection of the new production technologies adopted by their main overseas competitors. This project investigated the extent to which 'path dependence' accounts for the failure of these industries to adopt the new production technologies, via a case study of the British coal industry. One of Britain's most important nineteenth century staple industries, coal mining experienced a particularly severe interwar decline. Meanwhile, it remained less mechanised than most of its major competitors, including some countries where geological conditions were regarded as less favourable.<br> <br> The project assessed the extent to which 'technical interrelatedness' impeded modernisation through complementarities between different items of plant, which reduced the profitability of modernising any one stage of the production process. These problems were magnified by the extremely high costs of modernising certain stages of production. <br> <br> Such problems were compounded by 'institutional interrelatedness' arising from Britain's fragmented mineral royalty system. The project analysed whether any significant 'lock-in' to prevailing technologies existed, the mechanisms through which any lock-in occurred, and the efficiency losses arising therefrom.