Jacob Schmookler
| Jacob Schmookler[1] | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1918 Woodstown New Jersey United States[1] |
| Died | 1967 [1] |
| Nationality | United States[1] |
| Institutions |
Professor of Economics University of Minnesota (1957-67) Instructor Pennsylvania University (1946-51) Assistant Professor Michigan State University (1951-57)[1] |
| Alma mater |
BA Temple University (1940) PhD Pennsylvania University (1951)[1] |
| Notes | |
|
Made contributions to the demand-induced technological innovation and the logic of inter-industry technology flows.[1] | |
Jacob Schmookler was the first economist successfully to explore statistically the economics of technological innovation at a detailed industry level.[1] He crystallized the notion of endogenous technological change and its influence on economic growth two decades before the concept was reinvented by macro economists.[1] Most of his key findings are brought together in his 1966 book.[1] The underlying data and an extension of work in progress at the time of his death are in a 1972 book.[1]
Before Schmookler made his contributions, the conventional wisdom in economics was that technological innovations were supply-side driven, for example, as advances in knowledge opened up new opportunities for profitable invention and innovation.[1] Through the extensive analysis of time series and cross-sectional patent data and historical case studies, Schmookler demonstrated that demand-pull influences were also important: the more intense the demand, the more creative groups and individuals were drawn to work on an unsolved problem and more patentable inventions they generated.[1]
Struggling during the early 1960s to reconcile the conflicting knowledge-push and demand-pull hypothesis, Schmookler argued that both could be important, just as (following to Alfred Marshall) it takes two blades of a scissors to cut a paper.[1] He hypothesized that superior command over relevant areas of knowledge, for example, specialization in chemistry, electronics, or machine construction determined the industry locus of work to satisfy unmet demands; the demand itself might be found in a quite different industry.[1]