The Wheels of Change: Technology Adoption, Millwrights, and the Persistence in Britain's Industrialization

This paper examines the effect of the early adoption of technology on the evolution of human
capital and industrialization. We argue that mechanical skills and competence were a main
determinant of the location of industry on the eve of the Industrial Revolution. It concentrates on
the case of millwrights, eighteenth century specialists in advanced carpentry and hydraulic
machinery.   Millwrights were a key part of the upper-tail of the distribution of mechanical
abilities.  Their emergence was determined by the early adoption of watermills in the Middle Ages
as recorded in the Domesday Book survey (1086). Their location displays
considerable persistence.