Path dependence and the decline of the british coal industry c1880-1939

Completed

Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Coal, Other Coal)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Business and Management Studies)

Not Cross-cutting
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Policy and regulation)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Technology acceptance)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy)

Dr Scott
Portsmouth Business School
University of Portsmouth

Standard

ESRC

01 February 2001

30 September 2001

8 months

£16,987

No relevance to Underpinning Sectors

South East

ESRC Coal

Dr Scott, Portsmouth Business School, University of Portsmouth

Objectives not supplied

The project will investigate the extent to which Britains coal mining industry was inhibited from adopting the new, mechanised, production technologies employed by other countries, during the period from around 1880-1939. The analysis draws on the theoretical literature on `path-dependence, describing evolutionary processes whereby decisions taken during the early development of a technological system determine the range of choices available at later stages of the systems evolution. With regard to coal mining, the adoption of new, mechanised, technologies was inhibited by the fact that they were not fully compatible with other stages of the coal production process, or with existing mine lay-outs and infrastructure designed for pre-mechanised mining. Britains system of fragmented mineral royalty ownership by private landowners placed further impediments in the way of modernisation, by inhibiting the geographical reorganisation of mine-workings that would be required in order tomake full use of the new technology. This project will assess the potential efficiency gains offered by the new mining technologies; the extent to which these potential gains were reduced by the need to modify other stages of production and mine lay-outs, and the extent to which British coal mining was therefore "locked-in" to its existing technology by the legacy of earlier investments in pre-mechanised mining plant

31/10/11