Quantifying Embodied Technological Change
نویسندگان
چکیده
We estimate the rate of embodied technological change directly from plant-level manufacturing data on current output and input choices along with histories on their vintages of equipment investment. Our estimates range between 8 and 17 percent for the typical U.S. manufacturing plant during the years 1972-1996. Any number in this range is substantially larger than is conventionally accepted with some important implications. First, the role of investmentspecific technological change as an engine of growth is even larger than previously estimated. Second, existing producer durable price indices do not adequately account for quality change. As a result, measured capital stock growth is biased. Third, if accurate, the Hulten and Wykoff (1981) economic depreciation rates may primarily reflect obsolescence.
منابع مشابه
Is Embodied Technology the Result of Upstream R&D? Industry-Level Evidence
In this paper, I develop an industry-level index of capital-embodied R&D by capturing the extent of research and development directed at the capital goods in which a given industry invests. Compiling and adjusting data from the National Science Foundation and Commerce Department, I construct industry-level, time-series measures of this index and investigate its properties. The data allow me to ...
متن کاملProduction Function Estimation with Industry Capacity Data
This paper introduces a new data set for the analysis of productivity in U.S. manufacturing. It consists of data on production and input levels when the plants in an industry operate at capacity. The estimates are consistent with those obtained using data on actual operations from the ASM. As an application, I use this data to estimate the rate of growth of technological change that is embodied...
متن کاملThe Production-Side Approach to Estimating Embodied Technological Change
We estimate the rate of embodied technological change directly from plant-level manufacturing data on current output and input choices along with histories on their vintages of equipment investment. Our estimates range between 8 and 17 percent for the typical U.S. manufacturing plant during the years 1972-1996. Any number in this range is substantially larger than is conventionally accepted wit...
متن کاملEmbodying Embodiment in a Structural, Macroeconomic Input-Output Model
In this paper, I develop a regression-based system of labor productivity equations which account for capital-embodied technological change and I incorporate this system into IDLIFT, a structural, macroeconomic input-output model of the U.S. economy. Builders of regressionbased forecasting models have long had difficulty finding labor productivity equations that exhibit the “Solowian” property t...
متن کاملInvestment Specific Technological Progress and Structural Change
In this paper we introduce investment specific technical progress into Pasinetti’s model of structural change. Our aim is to assess the effects of embodied technical progress on economic growth and macroeconomic variables. Our findings suggest that despite the fact that this type of technical progress increases the productivity of capital, it has negative effects on conditions that promote full...
متن کامل