Portage and Path Dependence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bleakley, Hoyt; Lin, Jeffrey
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Philadelphia
• 刊物名称: QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-5533
• DOI: 10.1093/qje/qjs011
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 587-644
• 关键词: industry; advantage; geography; density; GROWTH; IMPACT; WAR

摘要

Many cities in North America formed at obstacles to water navigation, where continued transport required overland hauling or portage. Portage sites attracted commerce and supporting services, and places where the falls provided water power attracted manufacturing during early industrialization. We examine portage sites in the U.S. South, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest, including those on the fall line, a geomorphological feature in the southeastern United States marking the final rapids on rivers before the ocean. Although their original advantages have long since become obsolete, we document the continuing importance of historical portage sites. We interpret these results as path dependence and contrast explanations based on sunk costs interacting with decreasing versus increasing returns to scale.