Earnings and Productivity in the Scottish Coal-mining Industry during the Nineteenth Century: The Dixon Enterprises

in victorian britain coal was basic to economic growth and its crucial importance is attested to by the numerous studies of the industry undertaken by both individuals and Royal Commissions. ⁽¹⁾ Indeed, there is hardly an aspect of mining life that escaped investigation, but whatever the object of the separate studies, the influence of earnings and productivity on the general well-being of miners, and mining, is revealed again and again.