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On Biased Technical Change: Was technological change in Japan electricity-saving?

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  • SATO Hitoshi

Abstract

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, electricity generation has declined in Japan, and electricity prices have allegedly increased. The literature on biased technical change suggests that such electricity supply constraints may induce a biased technical change. This paper explores the extent to which the technical change in Japanese industries is biased, using a system of translog cost share equations where electricity and non-electric energy are separately treated as inputs. Using Japanese industry data over the 1973-2008 period, our findings confirm that technical change has been energy-saving but not electricity-saving in many industries, and that it tends to be labor-saving and capital-using. As a result, factor prices are much more important than technical change as a determinant of electricity's cost share.

Suggested Citation

  • SATO Hitoshi, 2013. "On Biased Technical Change: Was technological change in Japan electricity-saving?," Discussion papers 13077, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:13077
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    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/13e077.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. HOSOE Nobuhiro & AKIYAMA Shu-ichi, 2008. "Regional Electric Power Demand in Japan," Discussion papers 08005, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Berndt, Ernst R, 1976. "Reconciling Alternative Estimates of the Elasticity of Substitution," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 58(1), pages 59-68, February.
    3. Berndt, Ernst R & Wood, David O, 1975. "Technology, Prices, and the Derived Demand for Energy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 57(3), pages 259-268, August.
    4. Ichiro Fukunaga & Mitsuhiro Osada, 2009. "Measuring Energy-Saving Technical Change in Japan," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 09-E-5, Bank of Japan.
    5. Matsukawa Isamu & Madono Seishi & Nakashima Takako, 1993. "An Empirical Analysis of Ramsey Pricing in Japanese Electric Utilities," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 256-276, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Johanna Vogel & Kurt Kratena & Kathrin Hranyai, 2015. "The Bias of Technological Change in Europe. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 98," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58200, December.
    2. Zha, Donglan & Kavuri, Anil Savio & Si, Songjian, 2018. "Energy-biased technical change in the Chinese industrial sector with CES production functions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 896-903.

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