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Measuring human capital in the united states using copyright title pages, 1790-1870

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  • Rapone, Tancredi

Abstract

This paper uses optical character recognition (OCR) to analyze the production of books in the US over 1790 to 1870 using copyright title pages taken from the online archives of the Library of Congress. We construct national time series of book production over this period which show an uptake in per-capita terms in 1830, around the starting point of the US’ industrial revolution. We break down the production of books into topics using keywords for 8 topics: science, religion, novel, invention, diffusion, business, philosophy and textbook. On this basis we show that the composition of book production by topics is stable over time, except for textbooks and novels which show a persistent increase over the whole period both in relative and absolute terms. This pushes back the beginning of the growth in US human capital before the first reliable data on schooling and literacy starting in 1870. We thus offer mild support to an interpretation of US growth over the 19th century based on the expansion of knowledge and capabilities, while conceding that the link between the content of books and industrialization is tenuous.

Suggested Citation

  • Rapone, Tancredi, 2022. "Measuring human capital in the united states using copyright title pages, 1790-1870," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113448, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:113448
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/113448/
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    Cited by:

    1. Karol Jan Borowiecki & Nicholas Martin Ford & Maria Marchenko, 2023. "Harmonious relations: quality transmission among composers in the very long run," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 27(3), pages 454-476.

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    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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