%0 Journal Article
%T THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF NINEETEENTH-CENTURY INNOVATORS IN THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY
%A Robert P. Rogers
%J Essays in Economic & Business History
%D 2004
%I The Economic & Business History Society
%X A standard folk tale is of the immigrant who rose from poverty to a place of wealth in American business by ability and hard work. Some historians have questioned this story. They have found that most notable businessmen were native born of upper-middle class backgrounds. An examination of nineteenth century steel industry innovators, however, demonstrates that the rags-to-riches story is not totally irrelevant. A statistical analysis shows that the proportion of immigrants and men from working class and farming backgrounds among a sample of steel industry innovators is significantly greater than those in the samples of the other writers.
%U http://www.ebhsoc.org/journal/index.php/journal/article/view/81