State Capacity and American Technology: Evidence from the Nineteenth Century
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Robert Gordon's The Rise and Fall of American Economic Growth compellingly shows how technical innovation, stimulated by the country's institutions, has radically improved the living standards of the citizens of the US. We conduct an empirical investigation of the impact of the capacity of the US state, as proxied by the presence of post offices, on innovation. We show that there is a strong association between the number of post offices in a county and patenting activity. Our evidence suggests that part of story of US innovation is the capacity and reach of the US state.
Date issued
2016-05Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of EconomicsJournal
American Economic Review
Publisher
American Economic Association
Citation
Acemoglu, Daron et al. “State Capacity and American Technology: Evidence from the Nineteenth Century.” American Economic Review 106, 5 (May 2016): 61–67
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0002-8282
1944-7981