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Technology Adoption Costs and Productivity Growth: The Transition to Information Technology

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Author Info
James Bessen () (Research on Innovation)

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Abstract

Using two panels of U.S. manufacturing industries, this paper estimates capital adjustment costs from 1961 to 1996. I find that from 1974-83 adjustment costs rose sharply --they more that doubled from about 3% of output to around 7%. Moreover, this increase is specifically associated with a shift to investment in information technology. But such large adoption costs imply that the Solow residual mismeasures productivity growth: adoption costs are resource costs representing an unmeasured investment. I find that when this investment is included, productivity grew about 0.4% per annum faster than official measures during the 70's and early 80's, reducing the size of the productivity "slowdown." Indeed, estimated productivity growth rates were roughly the same from 1974-88 as from 1949-73. Thus technology transitions critically affect productivity growth measurement. (Copyright: Elsevier)

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File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/redy.2001.0152
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics in its journal Review of Economic Dynamics.

Volume (Year): 5 (2002)
Issue (Month): 2 (April)
Pages: 443-469
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Handle: RePEc:red:issued:v:5:y:2002:i:2:p:443-469

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Related research
Keywords: Technological change productivity adjustment cost information technology

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
O30 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - General
O47 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Measurement of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Capital; Investment; Capacity

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Dale W. Jorgenson & Kevin J. Stiroh, 1999. "Information Technology and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 109-115, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Hulten, Charles R, 1992. "Growth Accounting When Technical Change Is Embodied in Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 964-80, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Gordon, Robert J, 2000. "Does the 'New Economy' Measure up to the Great Inventions of the Past?," CEPR Discussion Papers 2607, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Jeremy Greenwood & Boyan Jovanovic, 1998. "Accounting for Growth," NBER Working Papers 6647, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Charles R. Hulten, 1996. "Quality Change in Capital Goods and Its Impact on Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 5569, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Comin, D., 2000. "An Uncertainty-Driven Theory of the Productivity Slowdown: Manufacturing," Working Papers 00-16, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
  7. Karl Whelan, 2000. "Computers, obsolescence, and productivity," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2000-06, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Charles R. Hulten, 1992. "Growth Accounting When Technical Change is Embodied in Capital," NBER Working Papers 3971, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Michael T. Kiley, 1999. "Computers and growth with costs of adjustment: will the future look like the past?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1999-36, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  10. Treadway, Arthur B, 1971. "The Rational Multivariate Flexible Accelerator," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 39(5), pages 845-55, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Eric J. Bartelsman & Wayne Gray, 1996. "The NBER Manufacturing Productivity Database," NBER Technical Working Papers 0205, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Dale W. Jorgenson & Kevin J. Stiroh, 2000. "Raising the Speed Limit: US Economic Growth in the Information Age," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 261, OECD Economics Department. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Berndt, Ernst R. & Morrison, Catherine J., 1992. "High-tech capital formation and economic performance in U.S. manufacturing industries : an exploratory analysis," Working papers 3419-92., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Stephen D. Oliner & Daniel E. Sichel, 1994. "Computers and Output Growth Revisited: How Big Is the Puzzle?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 25(1994-2), pages 273-334. [Downloadable!]
  15. Greenwood, Jeremy & Hercowitz, Zvi & Krusell, Per, 1997. "Long-Run Implications of Investment-Specific Technological Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(3), pages 342-62, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Kiley, Michael T., 2001. "Computers and growth with frictions: aggregate and disaggregate evidence," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 171-215, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Mortensen, Dale T, 1973. "Generalized Costs of Adjustment and Dynamic Factor Demand Theory," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(4), pages 657-65, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Sandra E. Black & Lisa M. Lynch, 2004. "What's driving the new economy?: the benefits of workplace innovation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(493), pages F97-F116, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  19. Lichtenberg, Frank R, 1988. "Estimation of the Internal Adjustment Costs Model Using Longitudinal Establishment Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(3), pages 421-30, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2000. "Beyond Computation: Information Technology, Organizational Transformation and Business Performance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 23-48, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Berndt, Ernst R. & Fuss, Melvyn A., 1986. "Productivity measurement with adjustments for variations in capacity utilization and other forms of temporary equilibrium," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1-2), pages 7-29. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Comin, D., 2002. "Using Investment Data to Assess the Importance of Price Mismeasurement," Working Papers 02-08, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Susanto Basu & John G. Fernald & Nicholas Oulton & Sylaja Srinivasan, 2003. "The case of the missing productivity growth: or, does information technology explain why productivity accelerated in the United States but not the United Kingdom?," Working Paper Series WP-03-08, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Dirk Krueger & Krishna B. Kumar, 2003. "US-Europe Differences in Technology-Driven Growth: Quantifying the Role of Education," NBER Working Papers 10001, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Danny Leung, 2004. "The Effect of Adjustment Costs and Organizational Change on Productivity in Canada: Evidence from Aggregate Data," Working Papers 04-1, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  5. James Bessen, 2003. "IT Adoption Costs and Productivity: A Reply to Diego Comin," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 6(1), pages 252-262, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Quella, Núria, 2007. "Intra- and Inter-Sectoral Knowledge Spillovers and TFP Growth Rates," MPRA Paper 2853, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Susanto Basu & John G. Fernald & Nicholas Oulton & Sylaja Srinivasan, 2003. "The Case of the Missing Productivty Growth: Or, Does Information Technology Explain why Productivity Accelerated in the US but not the UK?," NBER Working Papers 10010, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Roberto M. Samaniego, 2008. "Entry, Exit and Investment-Specific Technical Change," PIER Working Paper Archive 08-013, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
  9. Adriaan Van Zon & Roberto Antonietti, 2007. "Education and Training in a Model of Endogenous Growth with Creative Wear-and-Tear," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0057, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno". [Downloadable!]
  10. Mika Maliranta & Petri Rouvinen, 2003. "Productivity Effects of ICT in Finnish Business," Discussion Papers 852, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. [Downloadable!]
  11. Danny Leung, 2004. "The Effect of Adjustment Costs and Organizational Change on Productivity in Canada: Evidence from Aggregate Data," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 9, pages 52-61, Fall. [Downloadable!]
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