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Time for growth

Boerner, Lars and Severgnini, Battista (2015) Time for growth. Economic History working paper series (222/2015). London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

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Abstract

This paper studies the impact of the early adoption of one of the most important high-technology machines in history, the public mechanical clock, on long-run growth in Europe. We avoid en- dogeneity by considering the relationship between the adoption of clocks with two sets of instru- ments: distance from the first adopters and the appearance of repeated solar eclipses. The latter instrument is motivated by the predecessor technologies of mechanical clocks, astronomic instru- ments that measured the course of heavenly bodies. We find significant growth rates between 1500 and 1700 in the range of 30 percentage points in early adoptor cities and areas.

Item Type: Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL: http://www.lse.ac.uk/economicHistory/home.aspx
Additional Information: © 2015 The Authors
Divisions: LSE
Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D901 Europe (General)
T Technology > T Technology (General)
JEL classification: N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations > N13 - Europe: Pre-1913
N - Economic History > N9 - Regional and Urban History > N93 - Europe: Pre-1913
O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
Date Deposited: 24 Nov 2015 16:26
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 23:36
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/64495

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