Thor Berger
Associate senior lecturer
MAKING A MARKET : INFRASTRUCTURE, INTEGRATION, AND THE RISE OF INNOVATION
Author
Summary, in English
—We exploit exogenous variation arising from the historical roll-out of the Swedish railroad network across municipalities to identify the impacts of improved transport infrastructure on innovative activity. A network connection led to a local surge in patenting due to an increased entry and productivity of inventors. As the railroad network expanded, inventors in connected areas began to develop ideas with applications outside the local economy, which were subsequently sold to firms along the network. Our findings suggest that reductions in communication and transportation costs were an important driver of the historical emergence of a market for ideas.
Department/s
- Growth, technological change, and inequality
- Centre for Economic Demography
- Department of Economic History
Publishing year
2023-03
Language
English
Pages
258-274
Publication/Series
Review of Economics and Statistics
Volume
105
Issue
2
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
MIT Press
Topic
- Economics
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0034-6535