Full Citation

Title: The Rise of American Ingenuity: Innovation and Inventors of the Golden Age

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2017

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: We examine the golden age of US innovation by undertaking a major data collection exercise linking US patents to state and county-level aggregates and matching inventors to Federal Censuses between 1880 and 1940. We identify a causal relationship between patented inventions and long run economic growth and outline a basic framework for analyzing key macro and micro-level determinants. We explore drivers of regional performance including population density, financial development, geographic connectedness and social structure. We then profile the characteristics of inventors and their life cycle, measure the returns to technological development, and document the relationship between innovation, inequality and social mobility. Our new data help to address important questions related to innovation and long-run growth dynamics.

Url: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2896045

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Akcigit, Ufuk; Grigsby, John; Nicholas, Tom

Series Title:

Publication Number: DP11755

Institution: CEPR

Pages:

Publisher Location: London, UK

Data Collections: IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other

Countries: