This paper studies the impact of the early adoption of one of the most important high-technology machines in history, the public mechanical clock, on long-run growth in Europe. We avoid endo-geneity by considering the relationship between the adoption of clocks with an instrument based on the...

Introduction and preliminaries -- Skilled and unskilled labor -- Natural and reproducible capital -- Capital and labor -- An endogenous technology framework -- Skilled labor, unskilled labor, and experience over time -- Skills and capital over time and across countries -- Conclusions