Flexible Supply of Apprenticeship in the British Industrial Revolution
利用1710-1805年英格兰学徒制的年度数据，通过工具变量和向量自回归方法，发现学徒供给对需求冲击具有高弹性，支持了英国学徒制度是其熟练机械劳动力优势来源的观点。
We use annual information on apprenticeships in England between 1710–1805 to estimate the dynamic supply-responsiveness in this market in the presence of the increasingly powerful technological shocks as the Industrial Revolution proceeded apace. Using both an Instrumental Variable method and a dynamic Vector Autoregression framework (VAR) system to identify the long-run response functions, we find evidence of an elastic supply, sufficiently high as to allow quantities to rise considerably in response to demand shocks. This finding lends support to the view that Britain's apprenticeship institution was the source of its advantage in skilled mechanical labor, so critical to its economic success.