Looking for Work, Searching for Workers

This book examines the history of institutional changes in U.S. labor markets during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It combines a detailed historical description of how these institutions worked and evolved with a thorough analysis of quantitative evidence that reveals their implications for geographic wage convergence and market integration. This account illustrates both the importance of institutions as determinants of national economic performance and the importance of market forces in establishing the context of late nineteenth century labor history.