America, Jump-Started: World War II R&D and the Takeoff of the US Innovation System
American Economic Review
vol. 113,
no. 12, December 2023
(pp. 3323-56)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
During World War II, the US government's Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) supported one of the largest public investments in applied R&D in US history. Using data on all OSRD-funded invention, we show this shock had a formative impact on the US innovation system, catalyzing technology clusters across the country, with accompanying increases in high-tech entrepreneurship and employment. These effects persist until at least the 1970s and appear to be driven by agglomerative forces and endogenous growth. In addition to creating technology clusters, wartime R&D permanently changed the trajectory of overall US innovation in the direction of OSRD-funded technologies.Citation
Gross, Daniel P., and Bhaven N. Sampat. 2023. "America, Jump-Started: World War II R&D and the Takeoff of the US Innovation System." American Economic Review, 113 (12): 3323-56. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20221365Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H56 National Security and War
- N42 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N72 Economic History: Transport, Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- O31 Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
- O33 Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
- O38 Technological Change: Government Policy
- R11 Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes