par Khan, Zorina B
Référence Brussels economic review, 52, 3/4, page (239-273)
Publication Publié, 2009
Référence Brussels economic review, 52, 3/4, page (239-273)
Publication Publié, 2009
Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | Wars create dramatic changes in incentives for entrepreneurship and innovation, which need to be understood if we are to gauge the more subtle costs and benefits of armed conflict. This study examines the effect of the American Civil War on patterns of patenting and on the returns to inventive activity among patentees. The sample includes “great inventors” who achieved national eminence, patentees who created war-related inventions, all of the Confederate and Southern patentees, and a panel of over 8000 patents filed between 1790 and 1870. The empirical analysis focuses on the extent to which an entrepreneurial response to the armed conflict was associated with disproportionate changes in the wealth of inventors relative to the general population. |
