TY - UNPB
T1 - The Invisible Hand of Innovation showing in the General Purpose Technology of Electricity
AU - van der Kooij, Bauke
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - The unintended economic effect on society as result of individual behaviour —Adam Smith’s ‘Invisible Hand’ of economic progress in the eighteenth century — had its equivalent in technological progress. In the nineteenth century, again individual behaviour with its Acts of Innovation and Acts of Business had an unintended effect. It changed not only the economy, but also the world we are living in. The Communication Revolution, initiated by the ‘Engines of Growth’ of the GPT-E that are described, was the result of human curiosity, ingenuity and entrepreneurship. It were the General Purpose Engines of the Telegraph, the Telephone and the Wireless —developed by Morse and Cooke/Wheatstone, Bell and Marconi— that created its milestones. With all those other contributors, large and small, their basic innovations constituted the ‘Invisible Hand’ of technical progress.
AB - The unintended economic effect on society as result of individual behaviour —Adam Smith’s ‘Invisible Hand’ of economic progress in the eighteenth century — had its equivalent in technological progress. In the nineteenth century, again individual behaviour with its Acts of Innovation and Acts of Business had an unintended effect. It changed not only the economy, but also the world we are living in. The Communication Revolution, initiated by the ‘Engines of Growth’ of the GPT-E that are described, was the result of human curiosity, ingenuity and entrepreneurship. It were the General Purpose Engines of the Telegraph, the Telephone and the Wireless —developed by Morse and Cooke/Wheatstone, Bell and Marconi— that created its milestones. With all those other contributors, large and small, their basic innovations constituted the ‘Invisible Hand’ of technical progress.
KW - Adam Smith
KW - General Purpose Technology
KW - Technological innovation
KW - cluster of innovation
KW - history of technology
KW - invention
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:aab1429b-eecd-4a1e-b808-25a714f7d37f
M3 - Working paper
BT - The Invisible Hand of Innovation showing in the General Purpose Technology of Electricity
ER -