Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/99034 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8271
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Using newly collected national and sub-national data and historical case studies, this paper argues that differences in innovative capacity, captured by the density of engineers at the dawn of the Second Industrial Revolution, are important to explaining present income differences, and, in particular, the poor performance of Latin America relative to North America. This remains the case after controlling for literacy, other higher order human capital, such as lawyers, as well as demand side elements that might be confounded with engineering. The analysis then finds that agglomeration, certain geographical fundamentals, and extractive institutions such as slavery affect innovative capacity. However, a large effect associated with being a Spanish colony remains suggesting important inherited factors.
Subjects: 
innovative capacity
engineers
technology diffusion
human capital
growth
development
history
JEL: 
O1
O31
O33
O4
N1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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