This paper investigates the impact of “learning-by-producing” on inventive activity and shows that, in both emerging (electrical equipment and supplies) and maturing (shoes and textiles) industries, the geographic association between invention andproduction was rather weak during the Second Industrial Revolution. Regional shifts in production were neither accompanied nor followed by corresponding increases in invention. Instead, this paper finds that the geographic location of inventive activity tended to mirror the geographic distribution of individuals with advanced technical skills appropriate to the particular industry in question. Even in the craft-based shoe industry, much of the invention came from those with the advanced technical skills. The findings suggest that scholars have over-emphasized the importance of learningby-producing in accounting for the geographic differences in inventive activity, and underestimated the significance of technical skills or human capital amongst the population.
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Paper provided by McGill University, Department of Economics in its series Departmental Working Papers with number
2006-18.
Find related papers by JEL classification: N0 - Economic History - - General O3 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change
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