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Why Inventions Occurred in Some Countries and Not in Others?

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  • Sequeira, Tiago
  • Santos, Marcelo
  • Ferreira-Lopes, Alexandra

Abstract

The reasons why inventions that shaped industrial revolutions, occurred in the UK and in the USA, have been suggested by economic historians. For the first time,we access the determinants of more than a hundred inventions around the world, explaining why they occurred in a given country and why some occurred earlier than others. We confirm the importance of scale effects and dismiss the importance of education as triggers of inventions. Geographic and genetic distance from the UK and the USA have proven to be significant in explaining inventions. Both distance from the UK and proximity to the USA seem to have significant effect on the rise of the probability to invent and on the probability to invent earlier.

Suggested Citation

  • Sequeira, Tiago & Santos, Marcelo & Ferreira-Lopes, Alexandra, 2013. "Why Inventions Occurred in Some Countries and Not in Others?," MPRA Paper 51553, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:51553
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inventions; Industrial Revolutions; TFP; Determinants of Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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