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The Importance of the Embodied Question Revisited

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Author Info
Boucekkine, Raouf (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))
del Rio, Fernando (CEPREMAP, France)
Licandro, Omar (FEDEA, Spain)

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Abstract

In order to assess the importance of embodiment, we build up an endogenous growth model in which learning by doing is the engine of both embodied and disembodied technological progress. In sharp contrast to Phelps (1962), we show that a change in the composition of technical change affects the growth rate in the long run. We also provide an alternative explanation for the productivity slowdown: an increase in the fraction of embodied technical progress, through an improvement in the learning efficiency of the capital goods sector, permanently lowers the growth rate of technological progress, by increasing the obsolescence costs of investment. The productivity slowdown occurs together with a rise in the rate of decline of investment goods prices. Finally, we show that an increase in the embodied fraction of technical change reduces the gap between the optimal and the decentralized growth rates.

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Paper provided by Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) in its series Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) with number 1999026.

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Length: 22
Date of creation: 01 Aug 1999
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Handle: RePEc:ctl:louvir:1999026

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Related research
Keywords: Embodied technical progress; Obsolescence; Learning by doing; Productivity slowdown; Optimal growth;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Capital; Investment; Capacity
E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
O40 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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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. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-37, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Boucekkine, Raouf & del Rio, Fernando & Licandro, Omar, 1999. "Endogenous vs Exogenously Driven Fluctuations in Vintage Capital Models," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 1999007, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Andreas Hornstein & Per Krusell, 1996. "Can Technology Improvements Cause Productivity Slowdowns?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1996, Volume 11, pages 209-276 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  4. Jeremy Greenwood & Boyan Jovanovic, 1998. "Accounting for Growth," NBER Working Papers 6647, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    • Jeremy Greenwood & Boyan Jovanovic, 2000. "Accounting for Growth," RCER Working Papers 475, University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER). [Downloadable!]
    • Jeremy Greenwood & Boyan Jovanovic, 2001. "Accounting for Growth," NBER Chapters, in: New Developments in Productivity Analysis, pages 179-224 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  5. Hercowitz, Zvi, 1998. "The 'embodiment' controversy: A review essay," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 217-224, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Greenwood, J. & Hercowitz, Z. & Krusell, P., 1998. "The Role of Investment-Specific Technological Change in the Business Cycle," RCER Working Papers 449, University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER).
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  7. Parente Stephen L., 1994. "Technology Adoption, Learning-by-Doing, and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 346-369, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Benhabib, Jess & Rustichini, Aldo, 1991. "Vintage capital, investment, and growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 323-339, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Martin N. Baily & Eric J. Bartelsman & John Haltiwanger, 1994. "Downsizing and productivity growth: myth or reality?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 94-7, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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  10. Boucekkine, Raouf, et al, 1998. " Creative Destruction, Investment Volatility, and the Average Age of Capital," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 361-84, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. 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)
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  12. Boucekkine, Raouf & Germain, Marc & Licandro, Omar, 1997. "Replacement Echoes in the Vintage Capital Growth Model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 333-348, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Oliver J. Blanchard, 1997. "The Medium Run," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 28(1997-2), pages 89-158. [Downloadable!]
  14. Martin Neil Baily & Robert J. Gordon, 1988. "The Productivity Slowdown, Measurement Issues, and the Explosion of Computer Power," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1988-2), pages 347-432. [Downloadable!]
  15. Krusell, Per, 1998. " Investment-Specific R&D and the Decline in the Relative Price of Capital," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 131-41, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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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. Raouf BOUCEKKINE & Fernando DEL RIO & Omar LICANDRO, 2002. "Embodied technological change learning-by-doing and the productivity slowdown," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 2002028, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Raouf BOUCEKKINE & David DE LA CROIX & Yiannis VAILAKIS, 2002. "Technological Shocks and IT Revolutions," Discussion Papers (REL - Recherches Economiques de Louvain) 2002015, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Raouf Boucekkine & Fernando del Río & Omar Licandro, . "Obsolescence Vs modernization in a Schumpeterian vintage capital model," Working Papers 2000-27, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  4. Ana Goicolea & Omar Licandro & Reyes Maroto, 2001. "Picos de inversión y productividad del trabajo en los establecimientos industriales madrileños," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 25(2), pages 255-288, May. [Downloadable!]
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