The rise of the US Portland cement industry and the role of public science

David Prentice

Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, 2012, vol. 6, issue 2, 163-192

Abstract: American Portland cement rose spectacularly during the 1890s from being a niche product to dominating a much larger market. The contributions of innovations, factor endowments and public science—factors highlighted as contributing to the more general American industrialization occurring at the same time—are analyzed. The successful commercialization of the rotary kiln, enabled by abundant supplies of fuels and minerals, played a key role, as did greater demand. Geological surveys, as highlighted by David and Wright, assisted in some states, but an econometric entry model does not demonstrate that they made a systematic significant contribution to the rise.

Keywords: US industrialization; Public science; Portland cement; Entry models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N41 N61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11698-011-0068-1 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to journal subscribers

Related works:
Working Paper: The origins of American industrial success: Evidence from the US portland cement industry (2008)
Working Paper: A re-examination of the origins of American industrial success (2006)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:afc:cliome:v:6:y:2012:i:2:p:163-192

Access Statistics for this article

Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History is currently edited by Claude Diebolt, Dora Costa and Jean-Luc Demeulemeester

More articles in Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History from Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().