At lunch today at work we came to discuss how improvements in agricultural technology allowed the agri-sector to produce as much (or more) with less manpower (Yeah, I know we´re a fun bunch of economists), allowing other sectors to grow using that leftover manpower etc etc.
But just how many guys with shovels does an excavator replace? Or how many people using scythes and hoes are replcaed by one harvester?
Does anyone know if such an estimate has been made? Of course as ecnomists we can always look at production and employment statistics and do a calculation of the overall improvement of productivity. But I am looking for something more down to earth here.
I’ll do it right here. A small frontloader might have a 1/2 yard bucket; it could pick up one-half cubic yard of dirt at a time. It takes all afternoon for a lazy homeowner (me) to shovel a cubic yard of gravel and dirt. I’m guessing the front loader gives about a 200X improvement in productivity, maybe 100X for someone who is actually working at it.
My friend the carpenter related to me that some peice of machinery - either a back hoe or medium sized front end loader - dumped off of pile of dirt or gravel that he had to shovel in someplace by hand. The machine took about a minute altogether, to pick it up, move it, and drop it. It took him (full time professional-type guy) an hour to shovel it all down, so that’s roughly 60X more productive… then again have you ever priced some of that equipment?