IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/crs/wpaper/2003-05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How do Firms Respond to Cheaper Computers ? Microeconometric Evidence for France Based on a Production Function

Author

Listed:
  • Pierre Biscourp

    (Crest)

  • Bruno Crépon

    (Crest)

  • Thomas Heckel

    (Crest)

  • Nicolas Riedinger

    (Crest)

Abstract

We implement an original method based on the estimation of a production function, toinvestigate how the decrease in the cost of computers has affected the marginal cost of firms,their aggregate labor demand and their skill structure. Using a panel of more than 5000French firms followed between 1994 and 1997, we find that the effects of the decrease in theprice of computers have been large both in terms of marginal cost reduction and in terms ofskill structure, although these effects exhibit some heterogeneity across firms. In particular,skill substitution effects have been larger in manufacturing industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre Biscourp & Bruno Crépon & Thomas Heckel & Nicolas Riedinger, 2003. "How do Firms Respond to Cheaper Computers ? Microeconometric Evidence for France Based on a Production Function," Working Papers 2003-05, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    • Handle: RePEc:crs:wpaper:2003-05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://crest.science/RePEc/wpstorage/2003-05.pdf
    File Function: Crest working paper version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    2. Stephen D. Oliner & Daniel E. Sichel, 2000. "The Resurgence of Growth in the Late 1990s: Is Information Technology the Story?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 3-22, Fall.
    3. Jerry Hausman, 2001. "Mismeasured Variables in Econometric Analysis: Problems from the Right and Problems from the Left," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 57-67, Fall.
    4. Haskel, Jonathan & Heden, Ylva, 1999. "Computers and the Demand for Skilled Labour: Industry- and Establishment-Level Panel Evidence for the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(454), pages 68-79, March.
    5. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel, 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications (II): Applications of the Theory of Production," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 2, number fuss1978a.
    6. Robert J. Gordon, 2000. "Does the "New Economy" Measure Up to the Great Inventions of the Past?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 49-74, Fall.
    7. Griliches, Zvi & Hausman, Jerry A., 1986. "Errors in variables in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 93-118, February.
    8. William Lehr & Frank R. Lichtenberg, 1998. "Computer Use and Productivity Growth in US Federal Government Agencies, 1987–92," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 257-279, June.
    9. Alessandra Colecchia & Paul Schreyer, 2001. "ICT Investment and Economic Growth in the 1990s: Is the United States a Unique Case? A Comparative Study of Nine OECD Countries," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2001/7, OECD Publishing.
    10. Daron Acemoglu, 1998. "Why Do New Technologies Complement Skills? Directed Technical Change and Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1055-1089.
    11. Lehr, William & Lichtenberg, Frank R, 1998. "Computer Use and Productivity Growth in US Federal Government Agencies, 1987-92," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 257-279, June.
    12. Eve Caroli & John Van Reenen, 2001. "Skill-Biased Organizational Change? Evidence from A Panel of British and French Establishments," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(4), pages 1449-1492.
    13. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel (ed.), 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780444850133.
    14. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel, 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications (I): The Theory of Production," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 1, number fuss1978.
    15. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    16. Kevin M Stolarick, 1999. "IT Spending and Firm Productivity: Additional Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector," Working Papers 99-10, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wilson, Daniel J., 2009. "IT and Beyond: The Contribution of Heterogeneous Capital to Productivity," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 27, pages 52-70.
    2. Mirko Draca & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2006. "Productivity and ICT: A Review of the Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0749, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    4. Erich Gundlach, 2005. "Solow vs. Solow: Notes on Identification and Interpretation in the Empirics of Growth and Development," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 141(3), pages 541-556, October.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2041 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Florian Pelgrin & Arnaud Sylvain & Eric Heyer, 2004. "Capital operating time and working time in the production function : an evaluation on a panel firms over the period 1989-2001," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-00972838, HAL.
    7. Belorgey, Nicolas & Lecat, Remy & Maury, Tristan-Pierre, 2006. "Determinants of productivity per employee: An empirical estimation using panel data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 153-157, May.
    8. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/2041 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/2041 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Yoann Barbesol & Thomas Heckel & Simon Quantin, 2008. "Élasticité de la production au capital informatique : estimations à l’aide de données d’entreprises," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 419(1), pages 55-71.
    11. Piva, Mariacristina & Santarelli, Enrico & Vivarelli, Marco, 2005. "The skill bias effect of technological and organisational change: Evidence and policy implications," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 141-157, March.
    12. Francesco Caselli & Wilbur John Coleman II, 2006. "The World Technology Frontier," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 499-522, June.
    13. Hornstein, Andreas & Krusell, Per & Violante, Giovanni L., 2005. "The Effects of Technical Change on Labor Market Inequalities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 20, pages 1275-1370, Elsevier.
    14. Victor Aguirregabiria & Margaret Slade, 2017. "Empirical models of firms and industries," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1445-1488, December.
    15. Edquist, Harald & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Swedish lessons: How important are ICT and R&D to economic growth?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-12.
    16. Rosanne Altshuler & Jason G. Cummins, "undated". "Tax Policy and the Dynamic Demand for Domestic and Foreign Capital by Multinational Corporations," Computing in Economics and Finance 1997 174, Society for Computational Economics.
    17. Marianne P. Bitler, 2001. "Small business and computers: adoption and performance," Working Paper Series 2001-15, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    18. Antonelli, Cristiano & Quatraro, Francesco, 2007. "Directed Technological Change and Total Factor Productivity. Effects and Determinants in a Sample of OECD Countries, 1971 – 2001," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 200711, University of Turin.
    19. Canarella, Giorgio & Miller, Stephen M., 2018. "The determinants of growth in the U.S. information and communication technology (ICT) industry: A firm-level analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 259-271.
    20. Franck Essosinam KARABOU & Komlan Ametowoyo ADEVE, 2018. "ICT and Economic Growth in WAEMU: An Analysis of Labor Productivity," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 2, pages 12-20.
    21. Sylvie Charlot & Riccardo Crescenzi & Antonio Musolesi, 2014. "Augmented and Unconstrained: revisiting the Regional Knowledge Production Function," SEEDS Working Papers 2414, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Aug 2014.
    22. Xilin Li, 2012. "Technology, factor endowments, and China's agricultural foreign trade: a neoclassical approach," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(1), pages 105-123, January.
    23. Audra Bowlus & Yuet-Yee Linda Wong, 2020. "The Millenials' Transition from School-to-Work," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 20201, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:crs:wpaper:2003-05. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Secretariat General (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/crestfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.