THE WHEELS OF CHANGE: TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION, MILLWRIGHTS AND THE PERSISTENCE IN BRITAIN'S INDUSTRIALISATION

Joel Mokyr; Assaf Sarid; Karine Van Der Beek

doi:10.1093/ej/ueab102

THE WHEELS OF CHANGE: TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION, MILLWRIGHTS AND THE PERSISTENCE IN BRITAIN'S INDUSTRIALISATION

Joel Mokyr^*, Assaf Sarid, Karine Van Der Beek

^*Corresponding author for this work

Northwestern University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of the early adoption of technology on the evolution of human capital and industrialisation. We argue that mechanical skills and competence were a main determinant of the location of industry on the eve of the Industrial Revolution. It concentrates on the case of millwrights, eighteenth-century specialists in advanced carpentry and hydraulic machinery. Millwrights were a key part of the upper tail of the distribution of mechanical abilities. Their emergence was determined by the early adoption of watermills in the Middle Ages as recorded in the Domesday Book survey (1086). Their location displays considerable persistence.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1894-1926
Number of pages	33
Journal	Economic Journal
Volume	132
Issue number	645
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueab102
State	Published - 1 Jul 2022
Externally published	Yes

Funding

Funders	Funder number
Balzan Prize Foundation
Northwestern University
United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation	2010081

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1093/ej/ueab102

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THE WHEELS OF CHANGE: TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION, MILLWRIGHTS AND THE PERSISTENCE IN BRITAIN'S INDUSTRIALISATION

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

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