Inventive Activity in Early Industrial America: Evidence From Patent Records, 1790–1846

Kenneth Sokoloff

The Journal of Economic History, 1988, vol. 48, issue 4, 813-850

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.

Date: 1988
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Working Paper: Inventive Activity in Early Industrial America: Evidence From Patent Records, 1790-1846 (1988)
Working Paper: Inventive Activity in Early Industrial America: Evidence From Patent Records, 1790 - 1846 (1988)
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