DP11865 Technology-Skill Complementarity in Early Phases of Industrialization

Author(s):	Raphaël Franck, Oded Galor
Publication Date:	February 2017
Keyword(s):	Economic Growth, Human Capital, Industrialization, Steam Engine, Technology-Skill Complementarity
JEL(s):	N33, N34, O14, O33
Programme Areas:	Economic History, Macroeconomics and Growth
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=11865

The research explores the effect of industrialization on human capital formation. Exploiting exogenous regional variations in the adoption of steam engines across France, the study establishes that, in contrast to conventional wisdom that views early industrialization as a predominantly deskilling process, the industrial revolution was conducive for human capital formation, generating wide-ranging gains in literacy rates and educational attainment.