Causes of German Inventiveness, 1815–1990. What We Can Learn from Patent Statistics

Donges Alexander () and Streb Jochen ()
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Donges Alexander: 26573 University of Mannheim , Mannheim, Germany
Streb Jochen: 26573 University of Mannheim , Mannheim, Germany

German Economic Review, 2024, vol. 25, issue 4, 301-323

Abstract: In the second half of the 19th century, Germany developed into one of the most innovative economies in the world and was able to defend this position in the 20th century. In order to investigate the causes of this inventiveness, it is necessary to quantify innovations and assign them to inventors, regions and industries. For this reason, various historical patent databases have been set up over the last two decades, currently covering the period from 1815 to 1990. We present these patent databases and give an overview of the main empirical studies based on these statistics.

Keywords: Germany; human capital; innovation; patent statistics; technological progress; Unified Growth Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C81 N74 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1515/ger-2024-0063

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