The Rise of American Ingenuity: Innovation and Inventors of the Golden Age

Ufuk Akcigit, John Grigsby and Tom Nicholas

No 11755, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We examine the golden age of US innovation by undertaking a major data collection exercise linking US patents to state and county-level aggregates and matching inventors to Federal Censuses between 1880 and 1940. We identify a causal relationship between patented inventions and long run economic growth and outline a basic framework for analyzing key macro and micro-level determinants. We explore drivers of regional performance including population density, financial development, geographic connectedness and social structure. We then profile the characteristics of inventors and their life cycle, measure the returns to technological development, and document the relationship between innovation, inequality and social mobility. Our new data help to address important questions related to innovation and long-run growth dynamics.

Keywords: Patents; Innovation; Inventors; Growth; Demographics; Census; Earnings; Migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N11 N12 O31 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his, nep-ino, nep-tid and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (132)

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Working Paper: The Rise of American Ingenuity: Innovation and Inventors of the Golden Age (2017)
Working Paper: The Rise of American Ingenuity: Innovation and Inventors of the Golden Age (2017)
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