A General-Purpose Technology at Work: The Corliss Steam Engine in the Late-Nineteenth-Century United States
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. e...
Saved in:
Published in | The Journal of economic history Vol. 64; no. 1; pp. 61 - 99 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
New York, USA
Cambridge University Press
01.03.2004
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | 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 waterwheels 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. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | PII:S0022050704002608 istex:F1F758ACC08359B3FF0B706DB85AF6080435DAE5 ark:/67375/6GQ-QMXB600F-S ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0022-0507 1471-6372 |
DOI: | 10.1017/S0022050704002608 |