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Cited by 384Historical Economic and Social StudiesEconomic Growth and ProductivityCulture, Economy, and Development Studies

Human capital and industrialization: Evidence from the age of enlightenment

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Squicciarini, Mara P., Voigtländer, Nico·2015·The Quarterly Journal of Economics
DOI 10.1093/qje/qjv025
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Abstract

While human capital is a strong predictor of economic development today, its importance for the Industrial Revolution has typically been assessed as minor. To resolve this puzzling contrast, we differentiate average human capital (literacy) from upper-tail knowledge. As a proxy for the historical presence of knowledge elites, we use city-level subscriptions to the famous Encyclopédie in mid-18th century France. We show that subscriber density is a strong predictor of city growth after the onset of French industrialization. Alternative measures of development such as soldier height, disposable income, and industrial activity confirm this pattern. Initial literacy levels, on the other hand, are associated with development in the cross-section, but they do not predict growth. Finally, by joining data on British patents with a large French firm survey from the 1840s, we shed light on the mechanism: upper-tail knowledge raised productivity in innovative industrial technology.

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Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. [10]10. Aron, J. P., P. Dumont, and E. Le Roy Ladurie (1972). Anthropologie du Conscrit Français. Paris: Mouton De Gruyter.
  2. [17]17. Barro, R. J. and X. Sala-i-Martin (1992). Convergence. Journal of Political Economy 100(2), 223-251.
  3. [26]26. Braudel, F. (1982). Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century: The perspective of the world. Univer- sity of California Press.
  4. [31]31. Carpenter, K. (2011). Physiocrats, Antiphysiocracy and Pfeiffer, Chapter Manufactures in European Eco- nomic Literature of the Enlightenment: The Description des Arts et Métiers and the Schauplatz der Künste und Handwerke, pp. 5-21. New York, Springer, 2011.
  5. [48]48. Darby, H. C. and H. Fullard (1970). The New Cambridge Modern History, Volume 14. Cambridge: Cam- bridge University Press.
  6. [94]94. Johnson, N. D. and M. Koyama (2014, February). Taxes, Lawyers, and the Decline of Witch Trials in France. Journal of Law and Economics 57, 77-112.
  7. [105]105. Lough, J. (1968). Essays on the Encyclopédie of Diderot and dŠAlembert. London: Oxford University Press.
  8. [117]117. Mokyr, J. (1990). The Lever of Riches. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  9. [160]160. Watts, G. (1952). The Encyclopédie and the Descriptions des arts et métiers. The French Review 25(6), 444-454.

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Authors
Squicciarini, M. P., & Voigtländer, N.
Affiliations
Center for Economic and Policy Research (US)
Venue
The Quarterly Journal of Economics
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2015-07-06
Volume
130
Issue
4
Pages
1825-1883
ISSN
  • 0033-5533 (ISSN-L)
  • 1531-4650
DOI
10.1093/qje/qjv025
OpenAlex
W2105508094
Cited by
384
References
182
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
57.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • The Quarterly Journal of Economics (publishedVersion)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Archivio istituzionale della Ricerca - Bocconi (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Historical Economic and Social Studies
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economic Growth and Productivity
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
Keywords
human capital, Industrial Revolution, knowledge elites, literacy, urban expansion, French industrialization, economic development, innovation, industrial technology, productivity, patents

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