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Stories about economics and technology

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  • Robert Solow

Abstract

This essay offers an unsystematic sketch of seval ways in which economists have approached the need to represent and model changes in technology. It begins with the failures of Ricardo and Mill to respond adequately to the continueing increase of productivity after the Industrial Revolution, and ascribes it to the lack of appropriate analytical technique. It goes on to the question of classification of inventions posed by Hicks, with responses from other authors. It concludes with comments on the current intereste in endogenizing technical profress as a routine profit-seeking activity, with the thought that an uneasy compormise between exogeneous and endogeneous may be the best that can be done.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Solow, 2010. "Stories about economics and technology," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 1113-1126.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:17:y:2010:i:5:p:1113-1126
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2010.522789
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    3. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Florian Brugger & Christian Gehrke, 2017. "The Neoclassical Approach to Induced Technical Change: From Hicks to Acemoglu," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(4), pages 730-776, November.
    2. Torrent-Sellens, Joan, 2024. "Digital transition, data-and-tasks crowd-based economy, and the shared social progress: Unveiling a new political economy from a European perspective," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Madarász, Aladár, 2018. "A "túl elméleti" tőzsdeügynök: David Ricardo és az Alapelvek kétszáz éve ["Too theoretical" a stockjobber: 200 years of David Ricardo and his principles]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 449-483.
    4. Shepherd, Steven & Kay, Aaron C. & Gray, Kurt, 2019. "Military veterans are morally typecast as agentic but unfeeling: Implications for veteran employment," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 75-88.
    5. Heinz D. Kurz, 2018. "Stigler on Ricardo," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP27, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione 'Piero Sraffa'.
    6. Jun-You Lin & Chih-Hai Yang, 2020. "Heterogeneity in industry–university R&D collaboration and firm innovative performance," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(1), pages 1-25, July.

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