Amateur or Professional? A New Look at 19th Century Patentees in Norway

23 Pages Posted: 1 Jun 2012

See all articles by Bjørn Basberg

Bjørn Basberg

Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) - Department of Economics

Date Written: April 26, 2012

Abstract

The paper analyses Norwegian 19th century patentees. A special focus is on the affiliation or relationship of the patentees to the manufacturing industries, business and the wider economy. A main question is whether the inventors were what might be called ‘amateurs’ working independently, or ‘professionals’ working closer to firms or institutions. A main finding is that even the individual patentees, that comprised the majority of all patentees, had strong associations with industry, and the distinction between ‘professionals’ and ‘amateurs’ is not all that useful.

Keywords: Industrial breakthrough, Norway, patentees, patents, professional inventors

JEL Classification: N63, N73, O31, O34

Suggested Citation

Basberg, Bjørn, Amateur or Professional? A New Look at 19th Century Patentees in Norway (April 26, 2012). NHH Dept. of Economics Discussion Paper No. 12/2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2071153 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2071153

Bjørn Basberg (Contact Author)

Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) - Department of Economics ( email )

Helleveien 30
N-5035 Bergen
Norway

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