This paper empirically investigates whether the contribution of human capital to productivity growth depends on the composition of human capital and proximity to the technology frontier in a panel of 87 sample countries over the period 1970–2004. It tests the hypothesis that primary and secondary education is more suitable for imitation whereas tertiary education is more appropriate for innovat...

An important feature of heat exchanger network design is the energy-capital tradeoff. This tradeoff has been regarded as complex due to the number of structural network alternatives usually available, each being subject to continuous optimization. Current procedures tend to first identify minimum energy networks. The total cost (capital and energy) can then be improved by evolution and continuo...

Previous work was done to create a baseline capital cost model for the SFR in which case studies were performed to identify ways to decrease the capital costs while maintaining safety and performance. This thesis expands on the capital cost model to include uncertainty analysis, as well as performing qualitative cost evaluations for the fuel cycle and O&M costs. An uncertainty model was develop...

This paper quantitatively examines the e¤ects of two exogenous driving forces, investment-speci…c technological change (ISTC) and the demographic change known as “the baby boom and the baby bust,”on the evolution of the skill premium in the postwar U.S. economy. I develop an overlapping generations general equilibrium model with endogenous discrete schooling choice. The production technology fe...

The phenomenal success of East Asian economies has centered attention on the source of their economic growth. Recent studies based on neoclassical theory have produced controversial results: the most important source of economic growth of the East Asian countries (except Japan) is capital accumulation, and the estimated rate of technological progress is very small and, in some cases, substantia...

A financial friction is a wedge between the return received by providers of financial capital—ultimately, consumers—and the cost of capital paid by businesses and consumers who use capital. I study two frictions. One raises the rental cost of capital to firms and the other raises the rental cost of housing and durable goods to consumers. My focus is on the effects of financial frictions—I take ...

Copyright 2012 by Jarmila Curtiss and Ladislav Jelínek. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. Annotation: This paper examines allocative and cost efficiency implications of adopting variable-rate fertiliser application using survey data from Czech wheat farm...

a world- wide tendency toward regional integrations and internationalization of free- economy, requires technological economic, and organizational balances. the success of government to reach the mentioned situations depends on the degree of uniformity and power of public institutions in a vast variety- sociological, economical; and political, the dimensions which provide and guarantee for bene...

When we allow capital depreciation to be endogenous, the acceleration of investment-specific technological progress can distort the measurement of the aggregate capital stock. Our quantitative exercise shows that this effect may cause a substantial bias in the measurement of total factor productivity and can account for a large portion of the observed productivity slowdown since the 1970s. 2006...

A prototypical vintage capital model of economic growth is developed, where the decision to replace old technologies with new ones is modeled explicitly. Technological change is investment specific. Depreciation in this environment is an economic, not a physical, concept. The vintage capital economy's balanced-growth paths and transitional dynamics are analyzed. The transitional dynamics are ma...