Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/72369 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series No. WP05/15
Publisher: 
University College Dublin, Department of Economics, Dublin
Abstract: 
This paper models an industrial revolution as a qualitative transition from a world where innovation is infrequent and haphazard to one where it is continuous and systematic. Pre-industrial innovation is treated as a social process where an individual's effectiveness as an innovator depends on the skills of other individuals in his social network. As technology improves, individuals invest more time in learning through social contact. This gradual increase in linkage formation leads to a sudden change in the size of knowledge networks from small, isolated clusters, to a large connected cluster spanning most of the economy, causing a sudden increase in the effectiveness of innovation: an industrial revolution. The predicted sequence of typical innovators - from gifted amateurs, to lucky amateurs, to professionals - is consistent with empirical evidence.
Subjects: 
Industrial revolution
social networks
innovation
JEL: 
O40
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
271.83 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.