Military spending and innovation: learning from 19th century world fair exhibition data

Abstract

We provide quantitative evidence on the relationship between military spending and innovation in the 19th century. Combining innovation data from world fairs and historical military data across Europe, we show that national military spending is associated with national innovation towards war logistics such as food processing, but less towards war technology such as guns. This innovation pattern reflects differences in the historical markets for war supplies: While the armed forces sourced weapons globally, the market for food remained local.