Description:

Organizing complexity: the changing social technology behind teamwork (1850-1940)

Frank Neffke
Research Director
The Growth Lab at the Center for International Development
Harvard University

Talk Abstract

Abstract: The economic growth the world has experienced since the industrial revolution is without precedent in human history. The leading explanation for this growth acceleration is technological progress and the structural transformation it sets in motion. Recently, a new set of tools that help study structural transformation has become available, but our understanding is still held back by a lack of adequate data to study a phenomenon that unfolds on a time scale of decades or even centuries. To address this, we constructed a new database for this purpose. To do so, we digitized USPTO patent data and linked them to the complete censuses of the U.S. for the period 1850 to 1940. The result is a geocoded, longitudinal dataset of the careers, family relations and inventive activity for hundreds of millions of individuals for a period in which the U.S. transformed from a farming economy into an industrial and technological powerhouse. In a first application, we use the data to address a particular conundrum in technological progress. Technological progress means that the global body of knowledge increases. However, because people cannot acquire an unlimited amount of knowledge, it needs to be distributed across an expanding number of experts. To use this distributed know-how, the world needs to figure out how to organize these experts in teams. We show that technological progress set in motion a professionalization of innovation in the U.S. that coincided with a drastic shift in the main organizational technology for team work. 

Bio

Frank Neffke is the Research Director of the Growth Lab at the Center for International Development. He joined the team in 2012. His research focuses on economic transformation and growth, from the macro level of structural change in regional and national economies to the micro level of firm diversification and the career paths of individuals. This research has shed light on topics ranging from structural transformation and new growth paths in regional economies, economic complexity and the role of cities, local labor markets, the importance of division of labor, human capital and teams in modern economies, the consequences of job displacement and the future of work. 

Meeting Information:

https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/93311496832
Meeting ID: 933 1149 6832
Passcode: 381298