A General-Purpose Technology at work: The Corliss steam engine in the late-nineteenth-century United States
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Stanford University; Tel Aviv University
刊物名称：
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
ISSN/ISSBN：
0022-0507
DOI：
10.1017/S0022050704002608
发表日期：
2004
页码：
61-99
关键词：
摘要：
The contribution to growth from the steam engine-Industrial Revolution icon and prime example of a General Purpose Technology-has remained unclear. This article examines the role that a particular design improvement in steam power, embodied in the Corliss engine, played in the growth of the U.S. economy in the late nineteenth century. Using detailed data on the location of Corliss engines and water-wheels and a two-stage estimation strategy, we show that the deployment of Corliss engines served as a catalyst for the industry's massive relocation into large urban centers, thus fueling agglomeration economies and further population growth.