9408525 Weiss This research will investigate the sources of agricultural productivity growth during the nineteenth century. The goal of the study is to decompose the growth of output per worker into four key components: increased time at work, increased effort per unit of time, shifts in the composition of farm output, increased mechanization, and yield per acre. The decomposition analysis is carried out for men, women and children in the labor force. The study uses time series data on the U.S. labor force for 1820 and each of the decade from 1840 to 1900. The basic analysis is extended using alternative estimates of labor input, and accounting for labor requirements that vary by region, among other things. This study is important because it identifies those sources of agricultural productivity growth that would enable us to gain valuable insights into the role of agriculture in industrialization and vice-versa.
