American Ingenuity.pdf

Key findings on the rise of American ingenuity during the Golden Age of innovation (1880-1940) include:

Inventors were highly educated, with father's income and education being important intergenerational transmission channels.
Inventors tended to migrate to places conducive to innovation and were positively selected through exit early in their careers.
New inventors received more patent citations than incumbent inventors, suggesting a cycle of creative destruction.
Financial returns to technological development were high, with a strong relationship between patented inventions and long-run economic growth.
An instrumental variables approach exploiting an historical shift in innovation activity during World War II suggests that this relationship could be causal.
A U-shaped relationship between top income inequality and innovation was found, yet innovative places tended to be more socially mobile.
The time period analyzed (1880-1940) is central to recent debates on innovation and growth, covering the years associated with the second industrial revolution.
Innovative activity, measured by patenting, has been growing over time, with a positive association between innovation measures and output growth over the long run.