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27 . Richard G. Lipsey,.Pdf ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATIONS This page intentionally left blank Economic Transformations General Purpose Technologies and Long-Term Economic Growth RICHARD G. LIPSEY KENNETH I. CARLAW CLIFFORD T. BEKAR 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York ß Richard G. Lipsey, Kenneth I. Carlaw, and Clifford T. Bekar The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Clays Ltd., St. Ives plc. 0-19-928564-0(hbk) 9780199285648 0-19-929089-x 9780199290895 13579108642 Contents . List of Figures ix . List of Tables x . List of Boxes xi . Foreword xii . Preface xv . Acknowledgements xxi Part I GROWTH, TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, AND GENERAL PURPOSE TECHNOLOGIES 1 . 1. Technology as Revolution 3 ? Pervasive Economic Change 4 ? Some Comments on Procedure and Method 16 ? A Preview 21 . 2. Two Views of Economic Processes 25 ? Comparisons and Contrasts 27 ? Functioning of the Market 36 ? Appendix: Technological Choices and Trajectories 50 . 3. A Structuralist-Evolutionary Decomposition 55 ? The S-E Decomposition 57 ? Incentives and Behaviour 65 ? Innovating and Non-Innovating Behaviour 68 ? Path Dependence and the Arrow of Time 77 ? Appendix: The Evolutionary Hand and Factor Substitution 83 . 4. Technology and Technological Change 85 ? Microeconomics of Technological Change 85 ? General Purpose Technologies 93 ? Is There a Testable GPT Theory? 105 ? How Do We Know a New GPT When We See One? 108 ? Appendix: Measuring Technological Change 119 _ An Overview of Total Factor Productivity 119 _ TFP and Costly Technological Change 120 _ Counterfactual Measures 129 . 5. A Survey of GPTs in Western History (Part A): 10,000 bc to ad 1450 131 ? Initial Conditions 134 ? An Evolving Hunter-Gatherer Society 136 vi Contents ? The Neolithic Agricultural Revolution 138 ? Writing 144 ? Bronze 151 ? Iron and Steel 155 ? Classical Technologies 159 ? The Medieval Agricultural Revolution 160 ? Waterwheel 164 . 6. A Survey of GPTs in Western History (Part B): 1450–2010 169 ? Three-Masted Sailing Ship 169 ? Printing 175 ? Steam Engine 182 ? Mechanization 189 ? Railways 190 ? Electricity 196 ? Three Organizational GPTs 203 ? Some Future Transforming GPTs 211 ? Omitted GPTs 216 ? Concluding Thoughts 218 Part II THE TRANSITION TO SUSTAINED ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE WEST 219 . 7. The Emergence of Sustained Extensive Growth in the West 221 ? Introduction 221 ? Early Roots 225 ? The Early Modern Period 235 ? Four Phases of Industrial Mechanization 238 ? Growth Becomes Sustained 255 ? The Three Questions Answered 258 . 8. Why Not Elsewhere? 267 ? Why Not in Islam? 267 ? Why Not in China? 277 ? Conclusion 287 . 9. Population Dynamics: Relation Between Extensive and Intensive Growth 290 ? Growth Over the Millennia 291 ? Relation Between Extensive and Intensive Growth 297 ? Model 1: Individual Household 302 ? Model 2: Solow Growth with Endogenous Population 308 ? A Multi-Sector Model 319 ? Other Possible Determinants of Fertility 327 ? The Importance of Using a CES Production Function 328 ? What Have We Learnt? 332 ? Appendix 9.1: Historical Record on the Control of Family Size 335 Contents vii ? Appendix 9.2: Formal Models of Population Dynamics 341 _ Model 1: Individual Household 341 _ Model 2: A Solow Growth Model with Endogenous Population 343 _ Model 3: A Three-Sector Model 346 . 10. The Emergence of Sustained Intensive Growth in the West 351 ? Explanations 352 ? The Three Generic Theories Once Again 358 ? Conclusion and Summary 364 Part III MODELLING SUSTAINED GPT-DRIVEN GROWTH 367 . 11. GPTs and Related Concepts in the Literature 371 ? Historical and Appreciative Theories of GPTs 371 ? Growth With a Single GPT 379 ? Conclusions 384 . 12. Scale Economies in Economic Growth 385 ? Issues of Scale in Microeconomic Theory 386 ? ‘Scale’ Effects in Technological History 397 ? Scale Economies in Macro Growth Models 401 . 13. Appreciative Theories of GPTs 407 ? First Level of Abstraction: Adjustments of the S-E Categories 407 ? Second Level of Abstraction: A Stylized Evolution of a GPT 432 ? Third Level of Abstraction: A Logistic Curve Model of the Evolution of a GPT 434 . 14. Formal Models of GPT-Driven Sustained Growth: The Baseline Model 440 ? Outline of Our Baseline Model 440 ? Two-Sector Illustration of Growth Rejuvenation 445 ? The Three-Sector Baseline Model 449 ? Summary and Conclusion 465 . 15. Formal Models of GPT-Driven Sustained Growth: Extensions and Applications 468 ? Rational Versus Adaptive Expectations 468 ? Two Applied R&D and Consumption Sectors 475 ? More Than One Active GPT 477 ? A Simple Model of Facilitating Structure and GPTs 482 ? Changes in TFP Do Not Track Changes in Technology 488 ? Summary and Conclusions 495 Part IV POLICY 497 . 16. Technology Enhancement Policies: Theory and Evidence 499 ? Two Generic Theories 500 ? Policy Through Neoclassical Lenses 502 viii Contents ? Policy Through S-E Lenses 504 ? Free Trade Versus Protectionism 507 ? Domestic Technology Enhancement Policies 516 . 17. Assessing Technology Enhancement Policies 526 ? Judging Policy Packages 526 ? An S-E Package for Technology Policy 538 Bibliography 544 Index 559 List of Figures 2A.1 Substitution along a neoclassical isoquant 50 2A.2 Changing factor proportions under uncertainty 51 2A.3 Two alternative trajectories for technological change 52 2A.4 Alternative iso-R&D curves 53 3.1 The neoclassical aggregate production function 55 3.2 The structuralist-evolutionary decomposition 56 3A.1 Hidden hand selection of alternative technological trajectories 83 4A.1 Alternative time paths for the marginal product of capital 130 9.1 The household 305 9.2 A range of increasing returns to labour 330 12.1 Some stylized long-run average total cost curves for various types of manufacturing plants 405 13.1 Productivity/Applications curves for a GPT 433 13.2 Productivity/Applications curves for a succession of GPTs 437 13.3 Productivity curves for different patterns of two successive GPTs 438 14.1 Two-sector simulation: consumption output and knowledge stock 449 14.2 Two-sector simulation: resource allocation 449 14.3 Resource allocations (transition criterion 4) 462 14.4 Growth rates (transition criterion 4) 463 15.1 Resource allocations under rational and adaptive expectations (transition criterion 1) 472 15.2 Consumption paths under rational and adaptive expectations 473 15.3 Knowledge and consumption growth rates with simultaneous GPTs 482 15.4 Resource allocations with structural adjustment 486 15.5 Growth rates with structural adjustment 487 15.6 Rate of change of knowledge and TFP 491 15.7 Aggregate TFP and technological growth rates 492 15.8 Growth rates of knowledge and TFP with structural adjustment costs 494 17.1 The three stages of a programme 527 List of Tables 5.1 Transforming GPTs 132 16.1 Neoclassical and S-E theories compared 501 List of Boxes 9.1 The Galor and Weil model 299 9.2 Equations for the individual household (Model 1) 303 9.3 Equations for the one-sector model (Model 2) 309 9.4 Results for the one-sector model 312 9.5 Equations for the three-sector model (Model 3) 322 9.6 Results for the three-sector model 324 9.7 Equations for a range of increasing returns to labour 330 9A.2.1 Parameters with base case values in parentheses 349 10.1 The model altered to reflect the fertility revolution 357 12.1 An example of increasing returns to scale 393 12.2 Replication and decreasing returns for firms 399 14.1 A two-sector model that illustrates the growth rejuvenation process 446 14.2 Numerical simulation of the two-sector model 448 14.3 The three-sector model 455 14.4 Numerical simulation in a three-sector model 458 14.5 Maximization in the three-sector model 458 14.6 Spillovers from applied knowledge 464 15.1 Endogenous arrival and diffusion rates for new GPTs 470 15.2 Two applied R&D and consumption sectors 476 15.3 Two active GPTs 479 15.4 Parameter values for the simulation with two GPTs 481 15.5 A simple model of the facilitating structure and GPTs 483 15.6 Simulation of the three-sector and structural adjustment models 489 15.7 Measuring TFP in the three-sector baseline model 490 15.8 Measuring TFP in the model of the facilitating structure 493 16.1 Total factor productivity and technological change in the Asian NICs 515 Foreword THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH AND THIS BOOK This book had its beginnings in 1988 when I was asked by the CIAR to set up a research programme on long-term economic growth.
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