Fri May 24 12:05:33 EDT 2002
ABSTRACTS IN ECONOMIC HISTORY
(c) 2002 EH.Net
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Name: Brent Goldfarb
Email: goldfb at rpi.edu
Institution: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Co-author: none
Title: Adoption of General Purpose Technologies: Understanding
Adoption Patterns in the Electrification of US Manufacturing 1880-1930
Internet Address of abstracted work:
http://www.rpi.edu/~goldfb/research/AdoptionV2.4.pdf
By mail:
110 8th Street
Troy, NY 12180-3590
Language: English
Abstract:
Past study of the diffusion of pervasive technologies, such as the
electric motor, has failed to take into account the varied
technological challenges in their application. In a careful
examination of the adoption patterns of the electric motor in three
industries, automobile manufacture, printing and paper-making, I
establish that the technological difficulty of adapting the motor to
particular tasks has central explanatory power in the order of
adoption. I also find significant variation in the level of
difficulty in developing and implementing much trumpeted
organizational changes documented by other economic historians. A key
finding of the study is that significant variation in adoption rates
can be found not only between industries, but also between different
processes within industries and firms. A failure to investigate at
the micro-level has led some authors to making sweeping and incorrect
generalizations about the diffusion process. The analysis suggests
that an understanding of diffusion patterns of new technologies is
highly dependent on an understanding of their varied uses.
Bibliography: Goldfarb, Brent . "Adoption of General Purpose
Technologies: Understanding Adoption Patterns in the Electrification
of US Manufacturing 1880-1930." Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Working Paper 2002.
Subject: M
Geographical Area: 7
Country/Region: USA
Time Period: 8, 9
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