Atack, JeremyMargo, Robert A.Rhode, Paul W.2023-04-102023-04-102022-09J. Atack, R.A. Margo, P.W. Rhode. 2022. "“Mechanization Takes Command?”: Powered Machinery and Production Times in Late Nineteenth-Century American Manufacturing" The Journal of Economic History, Volume 82, Issue 3, pp.663-689. https://doi.org/10.1017/s00220507220001460022-05071471-6372https://hdl.handle.net/2144/46021During the nineteenth century, U.S. manufacturers shifted away from the “hand labor” mode of production, characteristic of artisan shops, to “machine labor,” which was increasingly concentrated in steam-powered factories. This transition fundamentally changed production tasks, jobs, and job requirements. This paper uses digitized data on these two production modes from an 1899 U.S. Commissioner of Labor report to estimate the frequency and impact of the use of inanimate power on production operation times. About half of production operations were mechanized; the use of inanimate power raised productivity, accounting for about one-quarter to one-third of the overall productivity advantage of machine labor. However, additional factors, such as the increased division of labor and adoption of high-volume production, also played quantitatively important roles in raising productivity in machine production versus by hand.p. 663-689en© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Economic History Association. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Applied economicsEconometricsHistory and philosophy of specific fieldsHistory of social sciencesArticle2023-01-2710.1017/s00220507220001460000-0003-2709-7490 (Margo, Robert A)756863