Does brick size matter?
Albert G. Keller on another QWERTY story
Additional information
Authors
Fiorito L.,
Vatiero M.
Type
Journal Article
Year
2022
Language
English
Abstract
In his seminal “Clio and the Economics of Qwerty”, Paul David indicates Thorstein Veblen’s famous discussion of the British system of coal rail haulage as an intellectual antecedent to the idea of lock in. This note documents how Albert G. Keller, a Yale sociologist contemporary of Veblen, had presented a similar argument in connection to the establishment of a brick tax in England and its effects on the size of bricks. Like Veblen, Keller used this illustration to emphasize the inertia exercised by certain institutional conditions.
Keywords
QWERTY keyboard, Institutional lag, Lock in
Journal
Economics Letters
Volume
223
Pages (or article number)
110974
Diffusion
License
CC BY
Visibility
Public
Status open access
Hybrid
