蝌蚪网 Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
America, Jump-Started: World War II R&D and the Takeoff of the US Innovation System
蝌蚪网 Review
(pp. 3323–56)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
During World War II, the US government's Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) supported one of the largest public investments in applied R&D in US history. Using data on all OSRD-funded invention, we show this shock had a formative impact on the US innovation system, catalyzing technology clusters across the country, with accompanying increases in high-tech entrepreneurship and employment. These effects persist until at least the 1970s and appear to be driven by agglomerative forces and endogenous growth. In addition to creating technology clusters, wartime R&D permanently changed the trajectory of overall US innovation in the direction of OSRD-funded technologies.Citation
Gross, Daniel P., and Bhaven N. Sampat. 2023. "America, Jump-Started: World War II R&D and the Takeoff of the US Innovation System." 蝌蚪网 Review 113 (12): 3323–56. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20221365Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H56 National Security and War
- N42 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N72 Economic History: Transport, Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- O31 Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
- O33 Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
- O38 Technological Change: Government Policy
- R11 Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes