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SUMMARY:Railways\, divergence\, and structural change in nineteenth-centur
 y England and Wales - Xuesheng You\, University of Swansea
DTSTART:20211104T171500Z
DTEND:20211104T184500Z
UID:TALK163525@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Amy Erickson
DESCRIPTION:Railways transformed inland transport during the nineteenth ce
 ntury. In this paper\, we study how railways led to local population chang
 e and divergence in England and Wales as it underwent dramatic urbanizatio
 n. We make use of detailed data on railway stations\, population\, and occ
 upational structure in more than 9000 spatial units. A network of least co
 st paths based on major towns and the length of the 1851 rail network is a
 lso created to address endogeneity. Our instrumental variable estimates sh
 ow that having a railway station in a locality by 1851 led to significantl
 y higher population growth from 1851 to 1891 and shifted the male occupati
 onal structure out of agriculture. Moreover\, we estimate that having stat
 ions increased population growth more if localities had greater initial po
 pulation density and for those 3 to 15 km from stations\, they had less gr
 owth compared to localities more distant from stations. Overall\, we find 
 that railways reinforced the population hierarchy of the early nineteenth 
 century and contributed to further spatial divergence. Their implications 
 for the geographic distribution of population were large.
LOCATION:History Faculty Room 6\, and online via zoom (for login details s
 ign up to ucam-ecosochist@lists.cam.ac.uk)
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