Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function

1998 ◽  
pp. 543-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Solow
Keyword(s):  
Production Function ◽  
Technical Change ◽  
Aggregate Production ◽  
Aggregate Production Function

scholarly journals BIASED TECHNICAL CHANGE, INTERMEDIATE GOODS, AND TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessio Moro
Keyword(s):  
Total Factor Productivity ◽  
Production Function ◽  
Technical Change ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Intermediate Goods ◽  
Factor Productivity ◽  
Aggregate Production ◽  
Tfp Growth ◽  
Aggregate Production Function ◽  
The Impact

In this paper I show that the intensity at which intermediate goods are used in the production process affects aggregate total factor productivity (TFP). To do this, I construct an input–output model economy in which firms produce gross output by means of a production function in capital, labor, and intermediate goods. This production function is subject, together with the standard neutral technical change, to intermediates-biased technical change. Positive (negative) intermediates-biased technical change implies a decline (increase) in the elasticity of gross output with respect to intermediate goods. In equilibrium, this elasticity appears as an explicit part of TFP in the value added aggregate production function. In particular, when the elasticity of gross output with respect to intermediates increases, aggregate TFP declines. I use the model to quantify the impact of intermediates-biased technical change for measured TFP growth in Italy. The exercise shows that intermediates-biased technical change can account for the productivity slowdown observed in Italy from 1994 to 2004.

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