U.S. Manufacturing Plant Census for Automotive and Textile Industries, 1929-1935

United States plant-level data from the Census of Manufactures for 1929, 1931, 1933, and 1935. The collection was created by Timothy F. Bresnahan of Stanford University to analyze the economic behavior of the American industrial economy during a period of major demand decline.

Use Cases

• Analyzing plant-level economic behavior based on establishment panel data.
• Studying industrial resilience and decline in the automotive sector during the 1929-1935 period.
• Modeling firm dynamics and productivity in the textile industry using historical census records.
• Investigating the impact of demand shocks on manufacturing establishments across multiple census years.

Strengths

• Data spans four census years (1929, 1931, 1933, 1935) covering a critical economic period.
• Focuses on specific, high-impact industries: automotive, automotive parts, and textiles.
• Created by a researcher from Stanford University, suggesting academic rigor.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

United States Bureau of the Census, Census of Manufactures.

Collection Method

Individual-plant data collected via official census.

Time Range

1929, 1931, 1933, 1935

Geography

United States