1 THE QUALITY OF ENGLISH PATENTS, 1617-1841: A REAPPRAISAL USING MULTIPLE INDICATORS by Alessandro Nuvolari Sant‟Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy Valentina Tartari Imperial College, London, UK Paper presented at the DIME Final conference, 6-8 April 2011, Maastricht VERY PRELIMINARY DRAFT!!! Contact authors: Alessandro Nuvolari, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant‟Anna School of Advanced Studies, Piazza Martiri della Liberta‟ 33, 56127, Pisa, Italy. Telephone +39 050 883591. E-mail: alessandro.nuvolari@sssup.it Valentina Tartari, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom. Telephone: +44 (0)207 59 43710. E-mail: v.tartari@imperial.ac.uk