IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jetheo/v170y2017icp346-384.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Endogenous capital- and labor-augmenting technical change in the neoclassical growth model

Author

Listed:
  • Irmen, Andreas
  • Tabaković, Amer

Abstract

The determinants of the direction of technical change and their implications for economic growth and economic policy are studied in the one-sector neoclassical growth model of Ramsey, Cass, and Koopmans extended to allow for endogenous capital- and labor-augmenting technical change. We build on a recently developed micro-foundation for the competitive production sector that rests on the idea that the fabrication of output requires tasks to be performed by capital and labor (Irmen, 2017). Firms may engage in innovation investments that increase the productivity of capital and labor in the performance of their respective tasks. These investments are associated with new technological knowledge that accumulates over time and sustains long-run growth. We show that the equilibrium allocation is not Pareto-efficient since both forms of technical change give rise to an inter-temporal knowledge externality. An appropriate policy of investment subsidies may implement the efficient allocation.

Suggested Citation

  • Irmen, Andreas & Tabaković, Amer, 2017. "Endogenous capital- and labor-augmenting technical change in the neoclassical growth model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 346-384.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:170:y:2017:i:c:p:346-384
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2017.05.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022053117300546
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jet.2017.05.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph Zeira, 1998. "Workers, Machines, and Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1091-1117.
    2. William D. Nordhaus, 1973. "Some Skeptical Thoughts on the Theory of Induced Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(2), pages 208-219.
    3. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    4. Boldrin, Michele & Levine, David K., 2008. "Perfectly competitive innovation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 435-453, April.
    5. H. Uzawa, 1961. "Neutral Inventions and the Stability of Growth Equilibrium," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 28(2), pages 117-124.
    6. Irmen, Andreas, 2005. "Extensive and intensive growth in a neoclassical framework," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 1427-1448, August.
    7. Brent Neiman, 2014. "The Global Decline of the Labor Share," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 61-103.
    8. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    9. Daron Acemoglu, 2003. "Labor- And Capital-Augmenting Technical Change," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 1-37, March.
    10. Jones, Charles I., 2005. "Growth and Ideas," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 16, pages 1063-1111, Elsevier.
    11. Hellwig, Martin & Irmen, Andreas, 2001. "Endogenous Technical Change in a Competitive Economy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 1-39, November.
    12. Boldrin, Michele & Levine, David K., 2002. "Factor Saving Innovation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 18-41, July.
    13. Irmen, Andreas & Tabaković, Amer, 2017. "Endogenous capital- and labor-augmenting technical change in the neoclassical growth model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 346-384.
    14. Irmen, Andreas, 2011. "Steady-state growth and the elasticity of substitution," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1215-1228, August.
    15. F. A. Lutz, 1961. "The Theory of Capital," International Economic Association Series, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-08452-4 edited by D. C. Hague.
    16. Francesco Caselli & Wilbur John Coleman II, 2006. "The World Technology Frontier," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 499-522, June.
    17. David Cass, 1965. "Optimum Growth in an Aggregative Model of Capital Accumulation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 32(3), pages 233-240.
    18. Paul A. Samuelson, 1962. "Parable and Realism in Capital Theory: The Surrogate Production Function," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 29(3), pages 193-206.
    19. repec:bla:econom:v:69:y:2002:i:273:p:155-71 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Rainer Klump & Peter McAdam & Alpo Willman, 2007. "Factor Substitution and Factor-Augmenting Technical Progress in the United States: A Normalized Supply-Side System Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 183-192, February.
    21. Nicholas Kaldor, 1961. "Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth," International Economic Association Series, in: D. C. Hague (ed.), The Theory of Capital, chapter 0, pages 177-222, Palgrave Macmillan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andreas Irmen, 2021. "Automation, growth, and factor shares in the era of population aging," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 415-453, December.
    2. Li, Defu & Bental, Benjamin & Huang, Jiuli, 2016. "Stationary Growth and the Impossibility of Capital Efficiency Gains," MPRA Paper 71516, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Irmen, Andreas, 2018. "A Generalized Steady-State Growth Theorem," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 779-804, June.
    4. David Hémous & Morten Olsen, 2021. "Directed Technical Change in Labor and Environmental Economics," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 571-597, August.
    5. Li, defu & Bental, Benjamin, 2023. "Why is technical change purely labor-augmenting and skill biased in the 20th century?," MPRA Paper 119047, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Gregory Casey & Ryo Horii, 2019. "A Multi-factor Uzawa Growth Theorem and Endogenous Capital-Augmenting Technological Change," ISER Discussion Paper 1051, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    7. Li, Defu & Bental, Benjamin, 2023. "What determines the Direction of Technological Progress(2023.11.16)?," MPRA Paper 119211, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Nov 2023.
    8. Benjamin Bittschi & Berthold U. Wigger, 2019. "On the Political Feasibility of Increasing the Legal Retirement Age," CESifo Working Paper Series 7492, CESifo.
    9. Growiec, Jakub & McAdam, Peter & Mućk, Jakub, 2018. "Endogenous labor share cycles: Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 74-93.
    10. Irmen, Andreas & Tabaković, Amer, 2017. "Endogenous capital- and labor-augmenting technical change in the neoclassical growth model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 346-384.
    11. Guo, Lu & Yan, Chong, 2021. "Optimal Taxation in the Endogenous Growth Framework with the Private Information," MPRA Paper 109548, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Irmen Andreas, 2020. "Endogenous task-based technical change—factor scarcity and factor prices," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 6(2), pages 81-118, June.
    13. Li, Defu & Benjamin, Bental, 2021. "Factor Supply Elasticities, Returns to Scale, and the Direction of Technological Progress," MPRA Paper 109920, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Andreas Irmen, 2020. "Tasks, technology, and factor prices in the neoclassical production sector," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 101-121, October.
    15. Li, Defu & Bental, Benjamin, 2019. "A Generalized Growth Model and the Direction of Technological Progress," MPRA Paper 96509, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Amer Tabakovic, 2015. "On the Characterization of Steady-States in Three-Dimensional Discrete Dynamical Systems," DEM Discussion Paper Series 15-16, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    17. Li, Defu & Bental, Benjamin, 2016. "What determines the direction of technological progress?," MPRA Paper 71517, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Growiec, Jakub & McAdam, Peter & Mućk, Jakub, 2018. "Endogenous labor share cycles: Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 74-93.
    2. Ekaterina Ponomareva & Alexandra Bozhechkova & Alexandr Knobel, 2012. "Factors of Economic Growth," Published Papers 172, Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, revised 2013.
    3. Gregory Casey & Ryo Horii, 2019. "A Multi-factor Uzawa Growth Theorem and Endogenous Capital-Augmenting Technological Change," ISER Discussion Paper 1051, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    4. Jones, C.I., 2016. "The Facts of Economic Growth," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 3-69, Elsevier.
    5. Irmen Andreas, 2020. "Endogenous task-based technical change—factor scarcity and factor prices," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 6(2), pages 81-118, June.
    6. Growiec, Jakub, 2013. "Factor-augmenting technology choice and monopolistic competition," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 86-94.
    7. Li, Defu & Bental, Benjamin, 2023. "What determines the Direction of Technological Progress(2023.11.16)?," MPRA Paper 119211, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Nov 2023.
    8. Guimarães, Luís & Mazeda Gil, Pedro, 2022. "Explaining the Labor Share: Automation Vs Labor Market Institutions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    9. Roberto Veneziani & Luca Zamparelli & Daniele Tavani & Luca Zamparelli, 2017. "Endogenous Technical Change In Alternative Theories Of Growth And Distribution," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 1272-1303, December.
    10. Michael Knoblach & Fabian Stöckl, 2020. "What Determines The Elasticity Of Substitution Between Capital And Labor? A Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 847-875, September.
    11. Irmen, Andreas, 2011. "Steady-state growth and the elasticity of substitution," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1215-1228, August.
    12. Jakub Growiec, 2019. "The Hardware-Software Model: A New Conceptual Framework of Production, R&D, and Growth with AI," KAE Working Papers 2019-042, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis.
    13. Hernando Zuleta & Andrew T. Young, 2007. "Labor's shares - aggregate and industry: accounting for both in a model of unbalanced growth with induced innovation," Documentos de Trabajo 3105, Universidad del Rosario.
    14. Li, Defu & Benjamin, Bental, 2021. "Factor Supply Elasticities, Returns to Scale, and the Direction of Technological Progress," MPRA Paper 109920, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Gregory Casey, 2018. "Technology-Driven Unemployment," 2018 Meeting Papers 302, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    16. Lawrence Robert Z., 2015. "Recent Declines in Labor's Share in U.S. Income: A Preliminary Neoclassical Account," Working Paper Series rwp15-034, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    17. Samuele Ialenti & Guido Pialli, 2024. "The increase in the elasticity of substitution between capital and labour: a repeated cross-country investigation," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 380-400, April.
    18. Luca Zamparelli, 2009. "Direction and Intensity of Technical Change: a Micro Model," Working Papers 4, Doctoral School of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome.
    19. Irmen, Andreas, 2018. "A Generalized Steady-State Growth Theorem," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 779-804, June.
    20. zamparelli, luca, 2008. "Direction and intensity of technical change: a micro-founded growth model," MPRA Paper 10843, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Endogenous technical change; Induced innovation; Capital- and labor-augmenting technical change; Neoclassical growth model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:170:y:2017:i:c:p:346-384. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622869 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.