The antebellum cotton textile industry has been characterized as experiencing rising labor productivity despite technological stagnation. Explanations of this phenomenon often emphasize the role of changes in labor quality. New data on skilled workers make it possible to construct a labor input index that accounts for changes in skill mix. Labor productivity is then analyzed in the context of changes in total-factor productivity. A very différent picture of productivity change in the textile mills emerges, casting doubt on the hypothesis of technological stagnation and emphasizing the importance of an increasing capital-labor ratio in maintaining productivity advance. The author is Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Kentucky. She is indebted to Glenn Hueckel for his advice and help on earlier versions of this work which appeared in her doctoral dissertation. Special thanks are due to Robert Layer, who generously allowed her to use his worksheets and data from his unpublished thesis. She would also like to thank C. Knick Harley, Louis Cain, Peter Lindert, John Olson, the participants of the 1977 Cliometrics Conference, and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments. © 1979, The Economic History Association. All rights reserved.
