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Chapter | Handbook of Economic Growth | 2014

Technology Diffusion: Measurement, Causes and Consequences

by Diego A. Comin and Marti Mestieri

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Abstract

This chapter discusses different approaches pursued to explore three broad questions related to technology diffusion: what general patterns characterize the diffusion of technologies, and how have they changed over time; what are the key drivers of technology, and what are the macroeconomic consequences of technology. We prioritize in our discussion unified approaches to these three questions that are based on direct measures of technology.

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Technology Adoption;

Format: Print Find at Harvard

Citation:

Comin, Diego A., and Marti Mestieri. "Technology Diffusion: Measurement, Causes and Consequences." In Handbook of Economic Growth. Vol. 2, edited by Philippe Aghion and Steven Durlauf, 565–622. Elsevier, 2014.

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  • Chapter | Handbook of Economic Growth | 2014

    The Intensive Margin of Technology Adoption

    We present a tractable model for analyzing the relationship between economic growth and the intensive and extensive margins of technology adoption. The "extensive" margin refers to the timing of a country's adoption of a new technology; the "intensive" margin refers to how many units are adopted (for a given size economy). At the aggregate level, our model is isomorphic to a neoclassical growth model, while at the microeconomic level it features adoption of firms at the extensive and the intensive margin. Based on a data set of 15 technologies and 166 countries our estimations of the model yield four main findings: (1) there are large cross-country differences in the intensive margin of adoption; (2) differences in the intensive margin vary substantially across technologies; (3) the cross-country dispersion of adoption lags has declined over time while the cross-country dispersion in the intensive margin has not; and (4) the cross-country variation in the intensive margin of adoption accounts for more than 40% of the variation in income per capita.

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    Citation:

    Comin, Diego A. "The Intensive Margin of Technology Adoption." In Handbook of Economic Growth. Vol. 2 edited by Philippe Aghion and Steven Durlauf. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2014.  View Details
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