DOI: 10.3886/e105544v1-9382
title: Bogart Lefors and Satchell London road and canal carriers Explorations in Economic History Paper Data

description: Canals played a key role in the industrial revolution by creating
the infrastructure for inland waterway transport. Public carriers responded to
canals and the growing demand for transport by innovating in service speed,
quality, and reliability. How did their innovations affect the transport
market, especially road carriers? One hypothesis is that road and canal carriers
complemented one another, offering services with different speeds and prices.
Another sees them as competitors with canal carriers winning based on their
lower operating costs. We test these hypotheses using London trade directories,
which detail road and waterway services from London to most cities from 1779 to
1827. Our main results show that introducing the standard canal barge service
between London and a major city had no effect on the number of road carrier
services supplied to that same city-pair. By contrast, introducing an express
canal service, known as the fly boat, significantly reduced road carrier services
supplied.  Fly boats are found to have
weaker competition effects if the ratio of waterway to road distance was
greater and on short and long route distances. The results provide new insights
on the importance of speed and service innovation during the industrial revolution.
description: <i>Variable name</i>, variable description<br><br><i>city</i>, name of city<br><i>cityid</i>, city numeric id<br><i>endbatesroute</i>, indicator if city is at the end of Bates route.<br><i>county</i>, county where city is located<br><i>Year</i>, year of directory observation<br><i>distance</i>, 1830 road distance from London to city in km<br><i>internalwaterdist</i>, internal waterway distance from London to city in meters. Note equals -1 if ther is no barge or fly boat service<br><br><i>dbarge</i>, indicator equal to one if city has a barge service from London in that directory year, otherwise zero<br><br><i>dvessel</i>, indicator equal to one if city has a vessel service from London in that directory year, otherwise zero<br><br><br><i>dflyboatnowagon</i>, indicator equal to one if city has a fly boat service from London in that directory year, excluding services that use wagon for part of route, otherwise zero<br><br><i>dflyboatall</i>, indicator equal to one if city has any fly boat service from London in that directory year, otherwise zero<br><br><i>allwagonnoboat</i>, number of weekly road carrier services from London to city, includes <br>wagons, vans, fly wagons, post wagons, and canal wagons<br><i>wagon</i>, number of weekly wagon carrier services from London to city<br><i>van</i>, number of weekly van carrier services from London to city<br><i>flywagon</i>, number of weekly fly wagon carrier services from London to city<br><br><br><i>postwagon</i>,  number of weekly post wagon carrier services from London to city<br><i>canalwagon,</i>	number of weekly canal wagon carrier services from London to city<br><br><i>allcoach,</i>	number of weekly road passenger services from London to city, includes coaches, diligence, machines, post coaches<br><i>diligence,</i>	number of weekly diligence passenger services from London to city<br><i>machine,</i>	number of weekly machine passenger services from London to city<br><i>coach,</i>	number of weekly coach passenger services from London to city<br><i>Post Coach,</i>	number of weekly post coach passenger services from London to city<br><br><i>dbargeonebefore,</i>	indicator for one directory year before city has first barge service from London, otherwise zero<br><br><i>dbarget0,</i>	indicator for directory year city has first barge service from London, otherwise zero<br><i>dbargeoneyearafter,</i>	indicator for first directory year after city has first barge service from London, otherwise zero<br><i>dbargeg1after</i>, indicator for directory years greater than one directory year after city has first barge service from London, otherwise zero<br><br><i>dflyboatonebefore</i>, indicator for one directory year before city has first fly boat service (all) from London, otherwise zero<br><br>dflyboatt0	indicator for directory year city has first fly boat service (all) from London, otherwise zero<br><br><i>dflyboatoneyearafter</i>, indicator for all directory years greater than first directory year city has fly boat service (all) from London, otherwise zero<br><i>susbsidiarycity</i>, name of subsidiary city to city. Note if no subsidiary city then label 'no match' is given<br><i>allwagonnoboat_subsid_total</i>, number of weekly road carrier services from London to subsidiary city, includes wagons, vans, fly wagons, post wagons, and canal wagons<br><i>wagon_subsid_total, </i>number of weekly wagon carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>van_subsid_total</i>, number of weekly van carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>flywagon2_subsid_total</i>, number of weekly fly wagon carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>postwagon_subsid_total</i>, number of weekly post wagon carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>canalwagon_subsid_total</i>, number of weekly canal wagon carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>allwagonnoboat_subsid_direct, </i>number of weekly direct road carrier services from London to subsidiary city, includes wagons, vans, fly wagons, post wagons, and canal wagons<br><i>wagon_subsid_direct, </i>number of weekly direct wagon carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>van_subsid_direct</i>, number of weekly direct van carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>flywagon_subsid_direct,</i> number of weekly direct fly wagon carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>postwagon_subsid_direct</i>, number of weekly direct post wagon carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>canalwagon_subsid_direct</i>, number of weekly direct canal wagon carrier services from London to subsidiary city<br><i>allwagon_subsid_connecting,</i>	number of weekly connecting road carrier services from London to subsidiary city, includes wagons, vans, fly wagons, post wagons, and canal wagons<br><i>dbarge_tohub	indicator,</i> if main city to subsidiary (aka hub) has a barge service from London in that directory year, otherwise zero. Note when subsidiary observations is not blank, this variable equals dbarge<br><i>dflyboatall_tohub</i>, indicator if main city to subsidiary (aka hub) has any fly boat service from London in that directory year, otherwise zero. Note when subsidiary observations is not blank, this variable equals dflyboatall<br><i>dvessel_tohub</i>, indicator if main city to subsidiary (aka hub) has any vessel service from London in that directory year, otherwise zero. Note when subsidiary observations is not blank, this variable equals dvessel<br>
description: Weekly road wagon and coach services from London to 53 major cities as listed in directories. Indicators for weekly barge, coastal vessel, and fly boat services from London to same cities. <br><br>Weekly road wagon and coach services from London to subsidiaries of the 53 major cities as listed in directories. The subsidiaries are interpreted as spokes and major cities as hubs in the service London network.<br>Smallest Geographic Unit: English cities with a population more than 2500 in 1750