Working Paper: NBER ID: w7107
Authors: Naomi R. Lamoreaux; Kenneth L. Sokoloff
Abstract: The growth of the U.S. economy over the nineteenth century was characterized by a sharp acceleration in the rate of inventive activity and a dramatic rise in the relative importance of highly specialized inventors as generators of new technological knowledge. Relying on evidence compiled from patent records, we argue that the evolution of a market for technology played a central role in these developments. Across both individuals and geographic areas, the expansion of opportunities to trade in patent rights was closely associated with increases in specialization at invention, as well as advances in rates of invention more generally. The patent system is often celebrated for the stimulus to invention provided by granting limited monopoly rights to inventors for the use of their discoveries, but its specification of tradable assets in technology has also been important.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: No JEL codes provided
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Expansion of the market for technology (O36) | Returns to invention (O31) |
| Returns to invention (O31) | Specialization of inventors (O31) |
| Emergence of intermediaries in the market for technology (D40) | Transfer of patent rights (O34) |
| Emergence of intermediaries in the market for technology (D40) | Rates of invention (O31) |
| Growth of the market for technology (O39) | Levels of inventive activity (O31) |
| Patent system design (O38) | Conducive environment for inventive activity (O36) |