Working Paper: NBER ID: w2707
Authors: Kenneth L. Sokoloff
Abstract: A sample of patent records from the United States between 1790 and 1846 is employed to study the patterns in inventive activity. Patenting was pro-cyclical, and yet began to grow rapidly with the interruptions in foreign trade that preceded the War of 1812. A strong association between patenting and proximity to navigable waterways is also demonstrated. Although the importance of specific mechanisms remains unclear, both the temporal and cross-sectional evidence imply that inventive activity was positively related to the growth of markets during early industrialization.
Keywords: patenting; inventive activity; industrialization; market growth; navigable waterways
JEL Codes: N01; O31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Economic expansion (N12) | Increased patent filings (O34) |
| Proximity to navigable waterways (L92) | Higher levels of inventive activity (O31) |
| Market size (L25) | Increased perceived returns to invention (O39) |
| Increased market demand (R22) | More inventive efforts (O36) |
| Market growth (D49) | Inventive activity (O31) |