Soft Coal, Hard Choices: The Economic Welfare of Bituminous Coal Miners, 1890-1930 [Hardcover]

Price V. Fishback (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195067258 | ISBN-13: 978-0195067255 | Publication Date: May 28, 1992 | Edition: 1St Edition

While most studies of labor in the coal industry focus on the struggle to organize unions, this work offers a more diverse and quantitative examination of the labor market. It regards the economic lives of the bituminous coal miners in the early twentieth century. Fishback's analytic framework encompasses competition among employers for labor, the legal environment, institutional development in response to transactions costs as well as the impact of labor unions on the coal industry. Utilizing economic theory and statistics, Fishback reveals the models hidden in the descriptions of events, and then tests their internal consistency as well as the hypotheses they generate.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A stimulating and lucid reassessment of a major area of US labor history....This is an excellent example of historical economics."--Business History

"A fascinating piece of iconoclasm. Fishback brings to bear an impressive range of evidence and argument....This cliometric investigation is one that anyone interested in labor economics, labor relations, or the coal industry should read."--Industrial and Labor Relations Review

"An excellent quantitative history of an important subject, effectively combining economic theory and empirical analysis. An important source for researchers, it should also provide a valuable case study for teachers of economic history or the economics of organizations."--Journal of Economic Literature

"Students of labor relations in the turn-of-the-century coal industry will find Soft Coal, Hard Choices an invaluable reference. But it deserves to be read more broadly, for it provides a compelling demonstration of the value of the economists' analytical tools for understanding labor history."--Journal of Economic History

"Price Fishback insists that economic organizations of all kinds, including even coal mining and company towns, can and should be examined in a disciplined way. His facinating treatment breathes new life into these issues and will be of interest to students of labor and economic organization alike."--Oliver E. Williamson, iversity of California, Berkeley

About the Author

Price V. Fishback is at University of Arizona.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1St Edition edition (May 28, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195067258
• ISBN-13: 978-0195067255
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #554,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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