Read All about It!! What Happens Following a Technology Shock?
American Economic Review · 2011 · Volume 101 · Issue 4
Abstract
Existing indicators of technical change are plagued by shortcomings. I present new measures based on books published in the field of technology that resolve many of these problems and use them to identify the impact of technology shocks on economic activity. They are positively linked to changes in R&D and scientific knowledge, and capture the new technologies' commercialization dates. Changes in information technology are found to be important sources of economic fluctuations in the post-WWII period, and total factor productivity, investment, and, to a lesser extent, labor are all shown to increase following a positive technology shock. (JEL E22, E23, E32, O33, O34, O47 )
Keywords
Capital, Investment, Capacity, Macroeconomics: Production, Business Fluctuations, Cycles, Technological Change: Choices and Consequences, Diffusion Processes, Intellectual Property Rights, Measurement of Economic Growth, Aggregate Productivity, Cross-Country Output Convergence
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.