QWERTY and the Search for Optimality

Research output: Working paperDiscussion paper

51 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper shows how one of the developers of QWERTY continued to use the trade secret that underlay its development to seek further efficiency improvements after its introduction. It provides further evidence that this was the principle used to design QWERTY in the first place and adds further weight to arguments that QWERTY itself was a consequence of creative design and an integral part of a highly efficient system rather than an accident of history. This further serves to raise questions over QWERTY’s forced servitude as “paradigm case” of inferior standard in the path dependence literature. The paper also shows how complementarities in forms of intellectual property rights protection played integral roles in the development of QWERTY and the search for improvements on it, and also helped effectively conceal the source of the efficiency advantages that QWERTY helped deliver.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationGlasgow
PublisherUniversity of Strathclyde
Number of pages24
Publication statusPublished - 18 Oct 2013

Publication series

NameStrathclyde Discussion Papers in Economics
PublisherUniversity of Strathclyde
Volume13-24

Keywords

  • qwerty
  • intellectual property rights
  • efficiency improvements

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'QWERTY and the Search for Optimality'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this