Using a nevply developed geographic information system transportation database, me study the impact of gaining access to rail transportation on changes in population density and the rate oj urbanization between 1850 and ¡860 in the American Midwest. Difjerences-in-dißhences and instrumental variable analysis of a balanced panel of 278 counties reveals only a small positive effect of rail access on population density but a large positive impact on urbanization ¡is measured by the fraction of people living in incorporated areas of 2,500 or more. Our estimates imply thai ove-halfor more of the growth in urbanization in the Midwest in the late antebellum period may be attributable to the spread of the rail network.
We study the correlates of the monthly establishment wage—the average monthly wage at the establishment level—and changes in wage dispersion between plants using a model of manufacturing developed by Goldin and Katz and data from manuscript censuses of manufacturing. We find that wages were decreasing in establishment size, but increasing in capital intensity and use of steam power. We also find an increase in inequality in the establishment wage between 1850 and 1880. Most of the increase occurred below the median wage and can be attributed, in part, to the growing concentration of employment in large establishments.
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