The Take-off in Germany

Education and Catch-up in the Industrial Revolution

“…When dating the inception of the Industrial Revolution in Prussia, most history scholars agree that the first phase of industrialization in Prussia started around the mid-1830s (e.g., Hoffmann 1963;Tilly 1996). The earliest chronological dating stems from Kiesewetter (2004) who argues that in a regional perspective, the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 may be viewed as the very earliest beginning of industrialization in some regions (see also Ralf Banken 2005).…”

“…Based on several full population, factory, occupation, and school censuses conducted by the Prussian Statistical Office, we compile a historically unique micro-regional panel dataset of 334 Prussian counties that spans nearly the whole nineteenth century. In particular, we cover education and pre-industrial development indicators in 1816, before the start of the Industrial Revolution in Prussia (which is generally placed around the mid-1830s; e.g., Walther G. Hoffmann 1963;Richard Tilly 1996), as well as education and industrial employment shares toward the end of the first phase of industrialization in 1849 and during the second phase in 1882.…”

The Research University, Invention, and Industry: Evidence from German History

“…An influential body of research dating back to Sombart (1909), Schumpeter (1939), andGerschenkron (1962) argues that the key shift towards industrialization occurred in a "big spurt" in the 1840s and 1850s. This literature points to the importance of railroads, heavy industry, and large scale banking (see Hoffmann 1963;Tipton 1976;Fremdling 1977;Pollard 1990;Guinnane 2002). Becker, Hornung, and Woessmann (2011) argue that Germany was "pre-industrial" in the first decades of the 1800s and Landes (1969;pp.…”

Elites and Health Infrastructure Improvements in Industrializing Regimes

“…Many historians place the start of the industrial revolution in Prussia in the mid-1830s (seeHoffmann, 1963, Tilly, 1996. The first workers' movements in Prussia emerged in 1848 (seeBalser, 1962).…”