Productivity growth and technological change in Europe and the U.S (original) (raw)
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Technological Sources of Economic Growth in Europe and the U.S
Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 2018
This paper assesses the role of different sources of technological change as determinants of economic growth in a group of selected OECD countries during the period 1980–2010. We consider three different sources of growth: neutral technical change associated with Total Factor Productivity, investment-specific technical change (ISTC) embodied in capital assets, and improvements in the quality of labor services generated by human capital accumulation. The contribution to growth of each of these sources is computed using two different approaches: the standard (statistical) growth accounting and the structural growth decomposition obtained from a general equilibrium growth model. We found that the effect of ISTC dominates that of neutral technology and human capital in all of the countries considered. On average, more than 50% of productivity growth is explained by ISTC. Contributions to growth from ICT and non-ICT technical change are in general of similar magnitude.
Institute of European Studies Working Paper Series, 2005
Over the past decade much has been published on the contribution of information and communication technology (ICT) to economic growth. In an attempt to find parallel historical evidence, several scholars have attempted to review the contribution of other general purpose technologies (notably steam and electricity) to output and productivity growth. Most of these contributions have had a national focus on the United States and for a limited number of European countries (for example, Finland, Sweden, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom).
Technological Breakthroughs and Productivity Growth
Research in Economic History, 2006
This study consists of an examination of productivity growth following three major technological breakthroughs: the steam power revolution, electrification and the ICT revolution. The distinction between sectors producing and sectors using the new technology is emphasized. A major finding for all breakthroughs is that there is a long lag from the time of the original invention until a substantial increase in the rate of productivity growth can be observed. There is also strong evidence of rapid price decreases for steam engines, electricity, electric motors and ICT products. However, there is no persuasive direct evidence that the steam engine producing industry and electric machinery had particularly high productivity growth rates. For the ICT revolution the highest productivity growth rates are found in the ICT-producing industries. We suggest that one explanation could be that hedonic price indexes are not used for the steam engine and the electric motor. Still, it is likely that the rate of technological development has been much more rapid during the ICT revolution compared to any of the previous breakthroughs.
ICT-specific technological change and productivity growth in the US 1980-2004
2008
This paper studies the impact of the information and communication technologies (ICT) on U.S. economic growth using a dynamic general equilibrium approach. We use a production function with six different capital inputs, three of them corresponding to ICT assets and other three to non-ICT assets. We find that the technological change embedded in hardware equipment is the main leading non-neutral force of the U.S. productivity growth and accounts for about one quarter of it during the period 1980-2004. As a whole, ICT-specific technological change accounts for about 35% of total labor productivity growth. JEL classification: E22, O30, O40.
Technological Sources of Productivity Growth in Germany, Japan, and the United States
2012
In this paper, we use a dynamic general equilibrium growth model to quantify the contribution of different technological sources to productivity growth in the three leading economies: Germany, Japan, and the U.S. The sources of technology are classified as representing either neutral progress or investment-specific progress. The latter can be split into two different types of equipment: information and communication technologies (ICT) and non-ICT equipment. We find that in the long run, neutral technological change is the main source of productivity growth in Germany. For Japan and the U.S., the main source of productivity growth is investment-specific technological change, mainly associated with ICT. We also find that a non negligible part of productivity growth has been due to technology specific to non-ICT equipment; this is mainly true after 1995. JEL classification: O3; O4.
2002
This paper provides an overview of the currently available evidence on the importance of information and communication technologies (ICT) for developments in productivity growth in the euro area. On the basis of the available data, there is evidence of an increased contribution of ICT to economic growth both in terms of production and investment in the second half of the 1990s. However, there is little, if any, evidence of significant positive spillover effects from the use of ICT to overall productivity growth. This implies that there is no reason to believe that potential output growth in the euro area has increased significantly in recent years on account of new technologies. JEL classification: E22, L63, L86, O3, O47
Productivity Growth Rates in Europe and the USA: A Tale of Convergence in the 21st Century
2010
In mid 90’s, productivity growth rate started to accelerate in the USA. The sources of this resurgence were the IT-producing industry and the IT-using market services. Meanwhile, Europe was still suffering from the low level of productivity growth rates. This fact leads to pessimistic assessments about the economic future of Europe. However, this paper uncovers that productivity growth rate started to accelerate after 2000 in the EU-15ex which consists of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom. In fact, it is hard to realize the acceleration in the productivity growth rate in early 2000’s because of the low level of productivity growth rate in this period. However, the productivity growth rate of the EU-15ex reached to the US productivity growth rate in mid 2000’s. The major source of this convergence is the IT-using market services. In addition, acceleration of the productivity growth rate of IT-producing industry has conti...
Economic Growth, Technical Progress and Labor Productivity
International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy
The debate on deindustrialization assumes that domestic industry is a leading sector and produces positive externalities for the whole economy. This paper will partially refute this. Since the early 1990’s, most developed and emerging economies have been subjected to two paradoxes: the paradox of Solow, which calls into question the relationship between ICT investment and productivity gains, and the paradox of Gordon, showing that productivity gains in the ICT sector do not propagate to all other sectors. These paradoxes lead one to question the linear nature of the kaldorian cumulative mechanisms. Following both a theoretical and an empirical approach, such relationships are analyzed from the viewpoint of the various models of unbalanced growth built by Baumol. The author will highlight the limits of such models and provide elements for an alternative explanation. Ultimately, the real problem is to investigate the economic nature and the role that services and forms of intangible c...
Technological sources of productivity growth in Japan, the U.S. and Germany
2009
In this paper, we use a dynamic general equilibrium growth model to quantify the contribution of different technological sources to productivity growth in the three leading economies: Germany, Japan, and the U.S. The sources of technology are classified as representing either neutral progress or investment-specific progress. The latter can be split into two different types of equipment: information and communication technologies (ICT) and non-ICT equipment. We find that in the long run, neutral technological change is the main source of productivity growth in Germany. For Japan and the U.S., the main source of productivity growth is investment-specific technological change, mainly associated with ICT. We also find that a non negligible part of productivity growth has been due to technology specific to non-ICT equipment; this is mainly true after 1995. JEL classification: O3; O4.