The summer of 1986 Romer worked on a model of specialization and differentiation. Was it spillovers that drew people to the cities or was it the opportunity to specialize? Or was it both? Romer created a model in which economic growth depended only on the appearance of new goods to generate growth. In December he circulated his model first as a working paper of the Rochester economics department and secondly in a telegraphic version presented at the meetings in New Orleans.
When the paper "Growth Based on Increasing Return Due to Specialization" was published in May 1987 it was hardly noticed. It was too short. Romer later said "I don't think that paper influenced people very much."
A for Will.
ReplyDeleteThe short version of this paper is accessible reading for undergraduates, if you're interested.
It's interesting that he got his paper on the program at the American Economics Association meetings, and then published in its journal. I tried for years to get something published that way, unsuccessfully. I actually did eventually get two things published this way, but they were published by the American Statistical Association.
Extra credit for the first person to comment about what the adjective "telegraphic" means in this context.