America, Jump-Started: World War II R&D and the Takeoff of the US Innovation System

Daniel Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat

American Economic Review, 2023, vol. 113, issue 12, 3323-56

Abstract: During World War II, the US government's Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) supported one of the largest public investments in applied R&D in US history. Using data on all OSRD-funded invention, we show this shock had a formative impact on the US innovation system, catalyzing technology clusters across the country, with accompanying increases in high-tech entrepreneurship and employment. These effects persist until at least the 1970s and appear to be driven by agglomerative forces and endogenous growth. In addition to creating technology clusters, wartime R&D permanently changed the trajectory of overall US innovation in the direction of OSRD-funded technologies.

JEL-codes: H56 N42 N72 O31 O33 O38 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Working Paper: America, Jump-started: World War II R&D and the Takeoff of the U.S. Innovation System (2020)
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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20221365

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