The returns to invention during the British industrial revolution

Bottomley, Sean 2019. The returns to invention during the British industrial revolution. The Economic History Review 72 (2) , pp. 510-530. 10.1111/ehr.12701

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Abstract

It was a commonplace among contemporaries, and remains received wisdom today, that inventors were poorly remunerated during the industrial revolution. Adapting a dataset of 759 British inventors, this article presents the first large-scale attempt to examine the issue systematically. Using probate information, the article shows that inventors were extremely wealthy relative to the adult male population. Inventors were also significantly wealthier than another group who would have received a similar inheritance (in terms of both financial and social capital) and entered similar occupations: their brothers. Their additional wealth was derived from inventive activities: invention paid.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0013-0117
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 October 2025
Date of Acceptance:	6 February 2018
Last Modified:	16 Oct 2025 09:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181691

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