TY - JOUR
T1 - The Quality of Services in Company Towns
T2 - Sanitation in Coal Towns During the 1920s
AU - Fishback, Price V.
AU - Lauszus, Dieter
N1 - Funding Information:
Earlier versions of this article were presented at the 1986 Cliometrics Conference, the 1986 University of Georgia Department of Economics Summer Seminar, the Economic History Association Meetings and Clemson University in 1987, and the University of Texas at Austin and University of New Mexico in 1988. The authors would like to thank Scott Atkinson, John Brown, Louis Cain, Cletus Coughlin, Christian Dustmann, Mason Gerety, Caren Ginsberg, Claudia Goldin, Robert Higgs, Gary Libecap, Hugh Nourse, Anthony O'Brien, Raymond Sauer, Dan Slesnick, Richard Sutch, Joseph Terza, Ron Warren, Paul Wilson, and anonymous referees for helpful comments and criticisms on earlier drafts. Financial support for the completion of this project was provided by the Earhart Foundation.
PY - 1989/3
Y1 - 1989/3
N2 - Coal company towns were infamous, being described as exploitive, and charged with providing low-quality services, like sanitation. Yet, the quality of sanitation in coal towns in 1922 appears similar to that in cities of similar size, although lagging behind that in major cities. Within the coal region, company and independent towns provided similar levels of sanitation. The quality of sanitation in company towns varied in response to cost-related factors, including town age, population, and natural location. Meanwhile, workers were mobile and demanded compensating increases in wage rates in towns with lower-quality sanitation and higher rents.
AB - Coal company towns were infamous, being described as exploitive, and charged with providing low-quality services, like sanitation. Yet, the quality of sanitation in coal towns in 1922 appears similar to that in cities of similar size, although lagging behind that in major cities. Within the coal region, company and independent towns provided similar levels of sanitation. The quality of sanitation in company towns varied in response to cost-related factors, including town age, population, and natural location. Meanwhile, workers were mobile and demanded compensating increases in wage rates in towns with lower-quality sanitation and higher rents.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0022050700007361
DO - 10.1017/S0022050700007361
M3 - Article
C2 - 11617313
AN - SCOPUS:0024896492
SN - 0022-0507
VL - 49
SP - 125
EP - 144
JO - Journal of Economic History
JF - Journal of Economic History
IS - 1
ER -