This paper develops a set of criteria for identifying the arrival of a general purpose technology (GPT) and applies them to the electification and IT "revolutions" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The criteria suggest that a GPT should be 1) pervasive, 2) improving over time, and 3)...

While a start-up firm waits for its sales to materialize, it is a "pre-producer". This waiting period represents a special kind of entry cost. This paper studies how such entry costs influence the several stages of an industry's life cycle. Assuming that the production hazard is rising in the...