The political economy of skills, occupational entitlements, and social mobility: evidence from industrializing Coventry, 1790-1850

Henderson, Lou ORCID: 0009-0004-3560-4186 and Kaiser, Moritz (2025) The political economy of skills, occupational entitlements, and social mobility: evidence from industrializing Coventry, 1790-1850. European Review of Economic History. ISSN 1361-4916

Text (The political economy of skills_REVISED_CLEAN_FINAL240726) - Accepted Version Repository staff only until 25 March 2026. Download (1MB)

Abstract

This paper examines the interaction between political economy and social mobility during early industrialisation in England. We analyse changes in male social mobility patterns in industrial-ising Coventry (c.1790-1850) following a transformation of key institutions affecting the labour market. Social mobility was framed by the interaction between trade policy, occupational skill formation, and municipal government. Using a longitudinal dataset and regression-discontinuity analysis, we find that liberal reforms to trade policy and municipal government during the late-1820s and early-1830s eroded the value of industry-specific social capital, while increasing the contribution of general human capital to social mobility.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions J Political Science H Social Sciences
JEL classification:	N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income, and Wealth > N33 - Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income and Wealth: Europe: Pre-1913
Date Deposited:	29 Nov 2024 11:54
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2025 13:42
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/126202

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