Time for Growth

Lars Boerner; Battista Severgnini

Time for Growth

Lars Boerner, Battista Severgnini

Department of Economics

Research output: Working paper › Research

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Abstract

This paper studies the impact of the early adoption of one of the most important high-technology machines in history, the public mechanical clock, on long-run growth in Europe. We avoid endo-geneity by considering the relationship between the adoption of clocks with an instrument based on the appearance of repeated solar eclipses. This is motivated by the predecessor technologies of mechanical clocks, astronomic instruments that measured the course of heavenly bodies. We ﬁnd a signiﬁcant increase in growth rates between 1500 and 1700 in the range of 30 percentage points in early adopter cities and areas. Finally, additional quantitative analysis suggests a positive relationship between mechanical clocks and contemporary long-term orientation nowadays.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Frederiksberg
Publisher	Copenhagen Business School [wp]
Number of pages	70
Publication status	Published - 28 Mar 2019

Series	Working Paper / Department of Economics. Copenhagen Business School
Number	04-2019

Series	Working paper / King's College
Number	2019/4

Keywords

Technological adoption
Cities
Mechanical clock
Information technology
Long-term orientation

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N2 - This paper studies the impact of the early adoption of one of the most important high-technology machines in history, the public mechanical clock, on long-run growth in Europe. We avoid endo-geneity by considering the relationship between the adoption of clocks with an instrument based on the appearance of repeated solar eclipses. This is motivated by the predecessor technologies of mechanical clocks, astronomic instruments that measured the course of heavenly bodies. We ﬁnd a signiﬁcant increase in growth rates between 1500 and 1700 in the range of 30 percentage points in early adopter cities and areas. Finally, additional quantitative analysis suggests a positive relationship between mechanical clocks and contemporary long-term orientation nowadays.

AB - This paper studies the impact of the early adoption of one of the most important high-technology machines in history, the public mechanical clock, on long-run growth in Europe. We avoid endo-geneity by considering the relationship between the adoption of clocks with an instrument based on the appearance of repeated solar eclipses. This is motivated by the predecessor technologies of mechanical clocks, astronomic instruments that measured the course of heavenly bodies. We ﬁnd a signiﬁcant increase in growth rates between 1500 and 1700 in the range of 30 percentage points in early adopter cities and areas. Finally, additional quantitative analysis suggests a positive relationship between mechanical clocks and contemporary long-term orientation nowadays.

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KW - Cities

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KW - Information technology

KW - Long-term orientation

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KW - Cities

KW - Mechanical clock

KW - Information technology

KW - Long-term orientation

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