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Psychology and the economics of invention
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2019
Abstract
Invention is an investment in which the costs of the Research and Development (R&D) project balance future returns. Those returns depend on objective factors like wage and capital costs but also on subjective factors because they are future projections. The more optimistic the inventor, the higher are the projected returns. Baumard uses Life History Theory (LHT) to relate optimism to the affluence of inventors and their societies.
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Target article
Psychological origins of the Industrial Revolution
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Author response
Psychological origins of the Industrial Revolution: More work is needed!