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Are Technology Improvements Contractionary?

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Author Info
Susanto Basu
John Fernald
Miles Kimball

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Abstract

Yes. We construct a measure of aggregate technology change, controlling for varying utilization of capital and labor, non-constant returns and imperfect competition, and aggregation effects. On impact, when technology improves, input use and non-residential investment fall sharply. Output changes little. With a lag of several years, inputs and investment return to normal and output rises strongly. We discuss what models could be consistent with this evidence. For example, standard one-sector real-business-cycle models are not, since they generally predict that technology improvements are expansionary, with inputs and (especially) output rising immediately. However, the evidence is consistent with simple sticky-price models, which predict the results we find: When technology improves, input use and investment demand generally fall in the short run, and output itself may also fall.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 10592.

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Date of creation: Jun 2004
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10592

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E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment

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