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Adoption Costs, Age of Capital and Technological Substitution

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  • Blanca MARTINEZ

    (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce adoption costs in a vintage capital model. We assume that the incorporation of technological innovations into the production sector requires an extra labor cost during a fixed period. First, we show how adoption crucially matters in the shape of short run and asymptotic dynamics. Then, we analyze the consequences of adoption costs in technological substitution extending the model in two ways : we let adoption costs depend on the technical growth rate, and we endogenize them, depending on the technological gap. When adoption costs depend on the technical growth rate, the effect of growth on optimal lifetime of machines is indeterminate; the creative destruction effect can be compensated by the adoption effect, and faster growth rates delay the technological substitution. Finally, when adoption costs are endogenous, we recover the typical obsolescence effect in vintage capital models and show that technological progress has a negative effect on the technological gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Blanca MARTINEZ, 2002. "Adoption Costs, Age of Capital and Technological Substitution," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2002024, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctl:louvir:2002024
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    File URL: http://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/2002-24.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hulten, Charles R, 1992. "Growth Accounting When Technical Change Is Embodied in Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 964-980, September.
    2. Boucekkine, Raouf & Martinez, Blanca, 1999. "Machine Replacement, Technology Adoption and Convergence," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 1999025, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
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    8. Boucekkine, Raouf & Germain, Marc & Licandro, Omar & Magnus, Alphonse, 1998. "Creative Destruction, Investment Volatility, and the Average Age of Capital," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 361-384, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Boucekkine, Raouf & Martinez, Blanca, 2003. "Replacement, adoption and economic dynamics: lessons from a canonical creative destruction model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 339-359, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Machine replacement; Optimal scrapping; Economic fluctuations; Technology adoption;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques

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