Knowledge, Human Capital and Economic Development: Evidence from the British Industrial Revolution, 1750-1930

B. Zorina Khan

No 20853, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Endogenous growth models raise fundamental questions about the nature of human creativity, and the sorts of resources, skills, and knowledge inputs that shift the frontier of technology and production possibilities. Many argue that the nature of early British industrialization supports the thesis that economic advances depend on specialized scientific training or the acquisition of costly human capital. This paper examines the contributions of different types of knowledge to British industrialization, by assessing the backgrounds, education and inventive activity of the major contributors to technological advances in Britain during the crucial period between 1750 and 1930. The results indicate that scientists, engineers or technicians were not well-represented among the British great inventors until very late in the nineteenth century. Instead, important discoveries and British industrial advances were achieved by individuals who exercised commonplace skills and entrepreneurial abilities to resolve perceived industrial problems. For developing countries today, the implications are that costly investments in specialized human capital resources might be less important than incentives for creativity, flexibility, and the ability to make incremental adjustments that can transform existing technologies into inventions that are appropriate for prevailing domestic conditions.

JEL-codes: J24 N13 O14 O3 O31 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-hpe, nep-hrm and nep-lma
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Published as Khan, B.Z. Cliometrica (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11698-017-0163-z

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