Top of page

Book/Printed Material Technological innovations and endogenous changes in U.S. legal institutions, 1790-1920

View Enlarged Image

About this Item

Title

  • Technological innovations and endogenous changes in U.S. legal institutions, 1790-1920

Summary

  • "Recent scholarship highlights the importance of institutions to the processes of economic growth, but the precise nature of their relationship bears further examination. This paper considers how the evolution of legal institutions has contributed to, and in turn been affected by, major technological innovations. The first section of the paper examines the U.S. intellectual property system. Patent and copyright laws, and their interpretation and enforcement by the federal judiciary, certainly influenced the course of technical and cultural change, but it is clear that they did not develop independently of the state of technology and of the economy. Both the statutes and their interpretations altered in response to the introduction and diffusion of new technologies. The second section explores in more detail the impact of some of these technological innovations -- including steamboats, railroads, telegraphy, medical technologies, and automobiles -- on the common law, regulation and insurance. Such technological advances often led to institutional bottlenecks, which then required accommodations in legal rules and their enforcement. Although the common law had some capability for economizing on legal adjustment costs through 'adjudication by analogy', the socio-economic changes wrought by major innovations ultimately produced more fundamental change in legal institutions, such as shifts in the relative importance of state and federal policies, and in the degree of reliance on regulation by bureaucracy. In sum, the historical record of the evolution of legal rules and standards in the United States indicates a remarkable degree of flexibility as such institutions responded to changing economic circumstances"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.

Names

  • Khan, B. Zorina
  • National Bureau of Economic Research

Created / Published

  • Cambridge, MA : National Bureau of Economic Research, c2004.

Headings

  • -  Law and economic development
  • -  Law--United States--History
  • -  Technological innovations--United States--History

Notes

  • -  Title from PDF file as viewed on 1/18/2005.
  • -  Includes bibliographical references.
  • -  Also available in print.
  • -  Mode of access: World Wide Web.
  • -  System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HB1

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2005615768

Rights Advisory

  • This is non-restricted, fully open content that may be accessed on and off of the Library of Congress campus, with no restrictions, by an unlimited number of users

Access Advisory

  • Unrestricted online access

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Khan, B. Zorina, and National Bureau Of Economic Research. Technological innovations and endogenous changes in U.S. legal institutions, -1920. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2004. Pdf. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2005615768/.

APA citation style:

Khan, B. Z. & National Bureau Of Economic Research. (2004) Technological innovations and endogenous changes in U.S. legal institutions, -1920. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2005615768/.

MLA citation style:

Khan, B. Zorina, and National Bureau Of Economic Research. Technological innovations and endogenous changes in U.S. legal institutions, -1920. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2004. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/2005615768/>.