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Cross-Country Technology Adoption: Making the Theories Face the Facts

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Author Info
Comin, D.
Hobijn, B.

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Abstract

We examine the diffusion of more than twenty technologies across twenty-three of the world ’s leading industrial economies. Our evidence covers major technology classes such as textile production, steel manufacture, communications, information technology, transportation, and electricity for the period 1788-2001. We document the common patterns observed in the diffusion of this broad range of technologies. Our results suggest a pattern of trickle-down diffusion that is remarkably robust across technologies. Most of the technologies that we consider originate in advanced economies and are adopted there first. Subsequently, they trickle down to countries that lag economically. Our panel data analysis indicates that the most important determinants of the speed at which a country adopts technologies are the country’s human capital endowment, type of government, degree of openness to trade, and adoption of predecessor technologies. We also find that the overall rate of diffusion has increased markedly since World War II because of the convergence in these variables across countries.

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Paper provided by C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University in its series Working Papers with number 03-04.

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Date of creation: 2003
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Handle: RePEc:cvs:starer:03-04

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Postal: C.V. Starr Center, Department of Economics, New York University, 269 Mercer Street 7th Floor, New York, NY 10003
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Postal: C.V. Starr Center, Department of Economics, New York University, 269 Mercer Street 7th Floor, New York, NY 10003
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Related research
Keywords: ECONOMIC GROWTH HISTORICAL DATA TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION.

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
O30 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - General
O57 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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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. Daron Acemoglu & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2001. "Productivity Differences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 116(2), pages 563-606, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Acemoglu, Daron & Johnson, Simon & Robinson, James & Thaicharoen, Yunyong, 2003. "Institutional causes, macroeconomic symptoms: volatility, crises and growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 49-123, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. repec:rus:hseeco:72137 is not listed on IDEAS
  4. Daron Acemoglu, 2001. "Directed Technical Change," NBER Working Papers 8287, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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