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Equilibrium Bias of Technology

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Daron Acemoglu

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Abstract

The study of the bias of new technologies is important both as part of the analysis of the nature of technology adoption and the direction of technological change, and to understand the distributional implications of new technologies. In this paper, I analyze the equilibrium bias of technology. I distinguish between the relative bias of technology, which concerns how the marginal product of a factor changes relative to that of another following the introduction of new technology, and the absolute bias, which looks only at the effect of new technology on the marginal product of a factor. The first part of the paper generalizes a number of existing results in the literature regarding the relative bias of technology. In particular, I show that when the menu of technological possibilities only allows for factor-augmenting technologies, the increase in the supply of a factor always induces technological change (or technology adoption) relatively biased towards that factor. This force can be strong enough to make the relative marginal product of a factor increasing in response to an increase in its supply, thus leading to an upward-sloping relative demand curve. However, I also show that the results about relative bias do not generalize when more general menus of technological possibilities are considered. In the second part of the paper, I show that there are much more general results about absolute bias. I prove that under fairly mild assumptions, an increase in the supply of a factor always induces changes in technology that are absolutely biased towards that factor, and these results hold both for small changes and large changes in supplies. Most importantly, I also determine the conditions under which the induced-technology response will be strong enough so that the price (marginal product) of a factor increases in response to an increase in its supply. These conditions correspond to a form of failure of joint concavity of the aggregate production function of the economy in factors and technology. This type of failure of joint concavity is quite possible in economies where equilibrium factor demands and technologies are decided by different agents.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 11845.

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Date of creation: Dec 2005
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11845

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
O30 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - General
O31 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
O33 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
C65 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods and Programming - - - Miscellaneous Mathematical Tools

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Cited by:
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  1. Maciej K. Dudek & ówna Handlowa, 2006. "On Artificial Structural Unemployment," Computing in Economics and Finance 2006 171, Society for Computational Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Mark Sanders, 2007. "Scientific Paradigms, Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Cycles in Economic Growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 339-354, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Macedo, Jorge Braga de & Martins, Joaquim Oliveira, 2006. "Growth, Reform indicators and Policy complementarities," FEUNL Working Paper Series wp484, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Economia. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Corrado Maria & Edwin Werf, 2008. "Carbon leakage revisited: unilateral climate policy with directed technical change," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 39(2), pages 55-74, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Juan Carluccio & Thibault Fally, 2008. "Multinationals, technological incompatibilities and spillovers," PSE Working Papers 2008-63, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  6. Acemoglu, Daron, 2009. "When Does Labor Scarcity Encourage Innovation?," CEPR Discussion Papers 7247, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Amigues, Jean-Pierre & Moreaux, Michel, 2008. "Dedicated Technical Progress with a Non-renewable Resource: Efficiency and Optimality," IDEI Working Papers 497, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Acemoglu, Daron & Jensen, Martin Kaae, 2009. "Aggregate Comparative Statics," CEPR Discussion Papers 7254, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Paolo Epifani & Gino Gancia, 2004. "Increasing Returns, Imperfect Competition and Factor Prices," Economics Working Papers 953, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Oct 2005. [Downloadable!]
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