‘A pioneering and valuable study linking finance to innovative activity: not only is the theoretical framework sound, thought-provoking and creative, but amply supported through systematic empirical testing.' - David B. Audretsch, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur Sozialforschung This book broadens the economic explanation of technological change, by assuming that development and diffusion of new technologies are closely related to the financial arrangements and institutions which prevail in any given historical period. To support his hypothesis, the author combines theoretical prescriptions with empirical evidence: the interdependences between technology and finance suggested in the first part of the book are therefore analysed from a historical perspective, and a theoretical model is then applied to explain how R&D is funded by new and already established firms in the data processing industry. The book concludes with a survey of policy interventions towards various sources of innovation financing.