GPTs and Growth: Evidence on the Technological Adoption of Electrical & Electronic Technologies in the 1920s

Sergio Petralia

No 2033, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: The pervasive diffusion of electricity-related technologies at the beginning of the 20th century has been studied extensively to understand the transformative potential of General Purpose Technologies (GPTs). Most of what we know, however, has been investigated in relation to the diffusion of their use. This article provides evidence on the county-level economic impact of the technological adoption of Electrical & Electronic (E&E) technologies in the 1920s in the United States (US). Thus focusing on the impact of a GPT on technological adopters, i.e. those who are able to develop, transform and complement it. It is shown that places with patenting activity in E&E technologies grew faster and paid higher wages than others between 1920 and 1930. This analysis required constructing a novel database identifying detailed geographical information for historical patent documents in the US since 1836, as well as developing a text-mining algorithm to identify E&E patents based on patent descriptions.

Keywords: Disruptive Technological Change; General Purpose Technologies; Historical Patent Documents; Technological Adoption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O30 O31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-08, Revised 2020-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-his, nep-ino, nep-knm and nep-pay
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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