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Productivity of a Commune: The Shakers, 1850–1880

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Metin M. Coşgel  and
John E. Murray
Metin M. Coşgel
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, U-63, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-1063.
John E. Murray
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, 4110 University Hall, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606-3390.
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Abstract

Focusing on a religious commune known as the Shakers and utilizing the information recorded in the enumeration schedules of the U.S. manufacturing and agriculture censuses, this article estimates the productivities of Shaker enterprises and compares them with those of other producers randomly selected from the same data source. The results provide support to the contention that communes need not always suffer from reduced productivity. Shaker farms and shops generally performed just as productively as their neighbors; when differences did exist between their productivities, there are good reasons to attribute them to factors other than the organizational form.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , June 1998 , pp. 494 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1998

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