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Measuring Robot Quality: Has Quality Improvement Slowed Down?

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  • Fujiwara, Ippei
  • Kimoto, Ryo
  • Shiratsuka, Shigenori
  • Shirota, Toyoichiro

Abstract

This paper measures the extent to which the quality of robots has improved in Japan between 1990 and 2018, by using data from the “Production and Shipments of Manipulators and Robots†of the Japan Robot Association and the “Corporate Goods Price Index†of the Bank of Japan. We first calculate quality-unadjusted robot price indices applying three approaches: the traditional index number approach, the stochastic approach in the spirits of Edgeworth and Jevons, the structural approach. Then, we compute robot quality by dividing quality-unadjusted prices by the quality-adjusted industrial robot price index produced by the Bank of Japan. Based on the three approaches, significant decline in improvement in the quality of robots in the last decade is found. The differences in the growth rates of robot quality between the 2000s and 2010s show substantially negative values of around -3 percentage points per annum.

Suggested Citation

  • Fujiwara, Ippei & Kimoto, Ryo & Shiratsuka, Shigenori & Shirota, Toyoichiro, 2021. "Measuring Robot Quality: Has Quality Improvement Slowed Down?," CEPR Discussion Papers 16556, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:16556
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    Cited by:

    1. ARAI Kosuke & FUJIWARA Ippei & SHIROTA Toyoichiro, 2021. "Robot Penetration and Task Changes," Discussion papers 21093, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    robots; quality adjustment; homothetic demand system;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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