Railroads and technology adoption in Meiji Japan

Railroad access may accelerate technological progress in the industrial sector through various theoretical channels. By digitizing novel datasets of factories and railroad networks in late 19th-and early 20th-century Japan and using the least-cost path between prioritized destinations as an instrument, I find that the distance from railroads in 1892 accounts for 34 percent of the growth in steam power adopted by factories from 1888 to 1902. I also find evidence supporting several mechanisms behind the reduced-form effect, such as the trade channel. The results suggest that railroad construction played a significant role in the rapid technological catch-up of Meiji Japan.