Making Consumers Comfortable: The Early Decades of Air Conditioning in the United States
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Michigan State University
刊物名称：
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
ISSN/ISSBN：
0022-0507
DOI：
10.1017/S0022050711002257
发表日期：
2011
页码：
1078-1094
关键词：
摘要：
During the air conditioner industry's first four decades, most installations were commercial comfort air conditioning systems, purchased by retailers to increase demand for their products. Air conditioning spread unevenly through the commercial sector and across the country. Using data from a variety of sources, I offer a quantitative account of this diffusion, viewed through an interpretive framework that emphasizes differences across geographic markets and industries in the costs and benefits to retailers of installing air conditioning. Correlates of early adoption of commercial air conditioning include electricity rates and consumer income and education levels.