The Wheels of Change: Technology Adoption, Millwrights, and Persistence in Britain’s Industrialization

Karine van der Beek, Joel Mokyr and Assaf Sarid

No 14138, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of the early adoption of technology on the evolution of human capital and industrialization, in the context of Britain’s Industrial Revolution. We demonstrate that millwrights, eighteenth century specialists in advanced carpentry and hydraulic machinery, evolved following the diffusion of watermills, and are recorded in the Domesday Book survey (1086). Our results suggest that their availability was a major factor in determining the persistence of English industrial location from the thirteenth century to the eve of the Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, in locations that adopted watermills in the Middle Ages, we show that the availability of physical infrastructure and of highly skilled wrights jointly determined the location of English industry from the end of the thirteenth century to the eve of the Industrial Revolution.

Keywords: Human capital; Industrialization; Economic growth; Mechanical skills; Watermill; England (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N00 N13 N53 N73 N93 O14 O15 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro and nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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