Biased technical change can be defined as changes that affect the elasticity of output with respect to inputs. In this paper, I analyze the effect of biased technical change on total factor productivity (TFP). I construct an input-output economy in which firms produce gross output using capital, labor and intermediate goods. In equilibrium, biased technical change appears as an explicit part of TFP in the value added aggregate production function, where the latter is obtained through the aggregation of individual firms optimal decisions. A larger elasticity of gross output with respect to intermediates implies a smaller TFP level. I use the model to quantify the impact of biased technical change for measured TFP growth in Italy. The exercise shows that biased technical change can account for the productivity slowdown observed in Italy from 1994 to 2004.
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Paper provided by Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de EconomÃa in its series Economics Working Papers with number
we076034.
Find related papers by JEL classification: E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution O47 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Measurement of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
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Ricardo Lagos, 2006.
"A Model of TFP,"
Review of Economic Studies,
Blackwell Publishing, vol. 73(4), pages 983-1007, October.
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Lagos, R., 2001.
"A Model of TFP,"
Working Papers
01-08, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
[Downloadable!]
Ricardo Lagos, 2006.
"A model of TFP,"
Staff Report
345, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
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