Full Citation
Title: The Production of Knowledge and Culture: The US 1790-1870
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2023
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DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.24803.53281
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Abstract: This paper uses new data on copyright registration title pages from the Library of Congress (LOC) to analyze the intellectual and cultural development of the United States over 1790-1870. I construct national time series of book production over this period which show an uptake in per-capita terms in 1830, well before the start of the Second Industrial Revolution and the era of "knowledge based progress" (Abramovitz & David, 1996). Matching authors to locations (at the county level) using declassified census data reveals that the spatial distribution of intellectual production in the early 19th century is strongly correlated with inventive activity over 1860-1940 and the evolution of the manufacturing sector. Identification is based on a shift-share type instrument exploiting the large internal migration patterns occurring in this time period. I then use topic modeling to classify books according to subject matter. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, scientific works are not the strongest predictors of the economic trajectories of US counties. Their correlation with manufacturing activity is relatively large in the short-run but disappears over a few decades whereas non-scientific works show an enduring relationship with economic development well into the 20th century. A theoretical model is briefly sketched which rationalizes these results.
Url: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373735973
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Authors: Rapone, Tancredi
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data
Topics: Migration and Immigration
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