Sommersemester 2018 (042383)
Dr. Felix Selgert
Seminar: Patents and innovation during the 19th century
Time: Fr. 13.4.2018, 12.00-16.00 // 25/26.5.2018 // 29/30.6.2018
The generation and practical application of new technologies was an important driving force of the industrial revolution.
For a long time, quantifying these developments was an important challenge for researchers. Since the 1990s,
however, patent records serve as a fruitful measure of innovation. Within the seminar we will use these records in order
to identify different levels of technological development over time and space. We will also ask for the reasons of different development paths.
Literature: Joel Mokyr, The lever of riches: Technological creativity and economic progress, New York 1992 /Joel Mokyr, The gifts of Athena.
Historical origins of the knowledge economy, Princeton 2005/Jochen Streb, The cliometric study of innovations,
in: Claude Diebolt, Micheal Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, Berlin 2016, pp. 448-468.