Catching the technological frontier? Vocational and technical education (VTE) and inventive activity in Italy, 1861–1911

Abstract Italy's slow human capital accumulation during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is a key determinant of the limited inventive activity of the country. Whilst the education–innovation nexus was explored in previous research, the relationship between the diffusion of vocational and technical education (VTE) and inventive activity has not been assessed. In this paper, we present a brand‐new dataset of VTE schools across Italy's provinces in the period 1861–1911 and perform a two‐stage analysis. First, we investigate factors associated with the establishment of VTE schools. Second, we study the correlation between VTE and innovation using new patent data. The diffusion of VTE schools was linked to socio‐economic factors, highlighting the role of demand. In turn, the presence of VTE schools correlates with an increasing number of patents. We show that the VTE–innovation nexus was influenced by existing human capital levels, particularly the relative diffusion of mass education versus secondary schooling.