Essays on historical labor market institutions

This dissertation examines the emergence of "modern" labor market institutions during three historical economic transformations. Industrialization in 19th century Britain was associated with "free" labor and saw the de-criminalization of contract breach; medieval Europe's "Commercial Revolution" occurred just as the continent's first universities were established; China's economy slowly modernized in the 19th and early 20th centuries alongside the replacement of traditional educational institutions by modern ones. The dissertation is aimed at understanding the functions and economic consequences of these changing labor market institutions.;Following an introductory chapter, Chapter 2 examines Master and Servant law in 19th century Britain, which made employee breach of contract a crime. We show that prosecutions under the law increased when labor markets were tight: employers prevented employees from pursuing high wages elsewhere. Because employers could retain employees using prosecutions, they were willing to offer long-term, partial-insurance contracts. Consistent with this, following the repeal of Master and Servant (1875), we find that wages rose and wages responded more to labor market shocks.;Chapter 3 examines the establishment of the first universities, alongside dramatic commercialization in medieval Europe. We present newly-collected data documenting increased market establishment in "Germany" during the Middle Ages. Next, we exploit the arguably exogenous establishment of Germany's first universities---due to the Papal Schism---to establish a causal link between universities and increased economic activity. We find a significant increase in the rate of market establishment in Germany just after university establishment, and argue that this effect is a result of the legal training universities provided.;Chapter 4 considers the transformation of China's educational institutions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Evidence is presented from Who's Who compilations and the Tianjin-Pukou Railroad's employee records (1929) indicating that modern education was especially valued by industry in early 20th century China. Traditionally-educated Railroad employees earned skill premiums, but were concentrated in clerical positions; the Railroad paid huge premiums to individuals trained at university and in engineering, reserving high-level positions for them. These results indicate the importance of modern educational institutions to China's adoption of modern technologies in the early 20th century.