Research Summary
Research Summary
Overview
Description
The focus of Professor Gross’ research agenda is U.S. technological innovation, innovation policy, and the effects of technological change on economic activity. He is also interested in learning about what drives individual creative behavior. Methodologically, he is interested in developing new tools to measure innovative activity, and using them to learn more about the structure, operation, and creative performance of organizations and policies to incentivize innovation. He frequently utilizes economic history as a venue for understanding recurring and modern-day phenomena.
Professor Gross is currently researching (i) the effects of automation on employment, drawing lessons from historical experience in the telephone industry; (ii) the impacts of U.S. investments in science during World War II on the rate and direction of U.S. invention, the development of regional technology clusters, and Federal support for science; and (iii) the effects of incentives on individual creative behavior in the workplace.