Inventors among the “Impoverished Sophisticateâ€

Thor Berger and Erik Prawitz

No 18147, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: This paper examines the identity and origins of Swedish inventors prior to World War I drawing on the universe of patent records linked to census data. We document that the rise of innovation during Sweden’s industrialization can largely be attributed to a small industrial elite belonging to the upper-tail of the economic, educational, and social status distribution. Analyzing children’s opportunities to become an inventor, we show that inventors were disproportionately drawn from privileged family backgrounds. However, among the middle- and working-class children that managed to overcome the barriers to entry, innovation was a path to upward mobility.

Keywords: Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 J62 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-05
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