DOCSLIB.ORG

Technical Change and Productivity

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Technical Change and Productivity Technical Change and Productivity In industrial countries, mill new information and communication technologies produce tremendous gains in productivity? A look at the role of institutional change Christopher Freeman Emeritus Professor of Science Policy, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Wthoy is it that when computers proliferate Some economists have been so impressed technical change—that is, the introduction, and scientists constantly emphasize new by this anomaly that they have concluded that diffusion, and efficient exploitation of these discoveries and inventions, rates of measured the measurement system must be at fault. discoveries and inventions, has not pro- productivity growth have been lower in the This is too complex an issue to discuss in the gressed as fast. 1970s and 1980s, in most industrial countries, space available here. The assumption will be In analyzing the causes of changes in than in the 1950s and 1960s? In Denmark, for made in what follows, however, that there productivity, this article focuses entirely on example, productivity growth has been zero has been a real slowdown in the growth of technical change, and not on the effects of or negative over the last few years even productivity in most industrialized countries. macroeconomic policies, which themselves though computerized machinery has been Can the productivity decline be explained have an important influence on productivity. widely diffused in Danish industry and offices. by a falling-off in the outputs of research and In the United States, the growth of both labor development work, or of other sources of Change in paradigm and total factor productivity slowed down scientific discovery, invention, and innova- A change in "technoeconomic paradigm" markedly in the 1970s and early 1980s and tion? The evidence generally shows no such takes place when new technology systems although manufacturing productivity has recov- trend. Indeed, the microelectronics revolu- change the dominant pattern of production ered somewhat, services productivity con- tion has led to an upsurge of inventions and and management throughout the economy. tinues to stagnate. innovations which affects not only manufac- The introduction of steam power or electric turing but most service industries as well. power are examples. Change of this kind not The explanation seems more likely to lie only gives rise to new ranges of products, This article is drawn from a longer paper, "Techni- in the processes of structural change and the services, systems, and industries in its own cal Change and Long-term Economic Growth, " new investment and training that are needed right; it also affects the costs and nature of October 1988, prepared for a 1988 World Bank seminar on Technology and Long-term Economic to diffuse radically new technologies. Thus, production and distribution throughout the Growth Prospects, and available from the author. it may be that the rate of technological change, economy. See also "Technological Change in Industry in in the sense of output of potentially useful The very big productivity gains of the > Developing Countries, " by CarlDahlman in Finance discoveries and inventions, has been increas- 1950s and 1960s were achieved by scaling j & Development, June 1989. ing during the 1970s and 1980s, while up the use of flow and assembly-line technol- : 46 Finance & Development I September 1989 ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution ogies and, in the European Economic Com- munity and Japan, by catching up with the Factors affecting the rate of diffusion of four technologies United States, which pioneered these technol- (5 = most favorable; 1 = least favorable) ogies. Gains from these sources have by now Nuclear Space Information been largely exhausted. During the 1970s the technology technology technology Biotechnology Electric Civil Electronic Drug emphasis in the development of industrial power Other communication Other industry Other industry Other technology began to shift away from mass and flow production, intensive in its use of energy Profitability 2 2 2 2 5 2-5 2 1 2 and materials, to a much more flexible, Competition pressure 2 2 3 5 5 4 2 Scale of investment 1 1 2 1 2-5 1-5 2 2 information-intensive pattern of production, Environmental impact 2 1 4 3 5 4 4 3 associated with computerized control and Safety 3 2-4 4 2 5 4 4 4 communication systems. The slowdown in Technical reliability 2 3 4 3 5 4 4 3 productivity over the 1970s and 1980s seems Public attitudes 2 2 4 3 5 4 4 3 likely to reflect, to a large extent, the Change agents problems of structural and institutional adjust- Government 3 4 4 3 5 5 2 2 ment to a new technoeconomic paradigm, Multinational corporations 2 2 3 3 5 5 3 3 based on information and communication Other business 2 2 2 3 5 4 3 3 technology (ICT). Military strategy 4 5 1 5 5 5 1 2 The four technologies illustrated in the Potential range table are all sometimes described as "gener- of applications 3 2 3 2 5 5 3 4 ic" or "enabling" technologies, since they Source: OECD, The Challenge of New Technologies, by Christopher Freeman, for the OECD 25th Anniversary Symposium, offer scope for innovations and productivity Paris, 1986. improvements not just in one product or process but in many. The table suggests that, because of its potential influence on productiv- ity, information and communication tech- ers, wholesalers, and retailers, permits big manufacturing, procurement, sales, adminis- nology will prove to be by far the most savings in inventories at all levels in the tration, and technical service in any enter- important and pervasive of the generic system, and a far more rapid and sensitive prise has had significant effects on the skill technologies in the 1980s and 1990s. response to even daily changes in consumer profile of industry, affecting drawing offices Characteristics of ICT demand. and designers as well as clerical labor and Third, with the advances in the transmis- machine shops. While undoubtedly displacing Both within the ICT industries and in a sion of information, industries, services, and some labor, these developments also gener- wide range of applications of these technol- markets are becoming much more integrated ate a demand for new skills, which are ogies, technical change is very rapid. Under- internationally. Faster international transfer everywhere in short supply, and for new lying this rapid change is the continuing of technology and more mobility in the service types of information within firms and from dramatic improvement in the large-scale industries are among the consequences. The specialist firms in the provision of business integration of electronic circuits, and the financial services industry is already showing and computer services. continuing fall in costs that this permits. In the far-reaching effects of this enhanced Given all these characteristics, it is clear communications technology, fiber optics has mobility and many countries and regions will both that the new technoeconomic paradigm made possible similar drastic improvements ultimately be affected by major changes in the differs from that prevailing in the 1950s and in costs and performance and, together with international division of labor. 1960s in many important respects, and that computerized telephone exchanges, is leading Fourth, in many types of machinery and it entails revolutionary changes in the capital to a new telecommunications infrastructure, electronic goods, the redesign of products stock, in the skills needed by the economy, permitting very cheap worldwide image, data, and processes permitted by ICT makes and in management systems. How are voice, and other types of communication. possible a reduction in the number of electro- different industries adapting to this change? The advances in information and commu- mechanical components and a telescoping of Productivity in industry nication technology have consequences for some of the stages of component transforma- the integration and control of production as tion. This permits substantial savings in Labor productivity has been growing well as for the use of materials and labor. materials and energy. It also promotes a fastest in the electronics industries, espe- First, for example, ICT makes possible process of structural change, involving the cially the computer industry and the elec- greater flexibility and speed in changing loss of jobs in some metals and metal goods tronic component industry. These are the tooling and dies, and hence in changing industries and an increase in jobs in parts of industries that make greatest use of their own product models and designs. This means that the electronics components industry, elec- technology for design, production, stock small production runs become more economic tronic products, and producer services. control, marketing, and management. They than before. Since economies of scale are still Fifth, the use of ICT to communicate and are also the only industries to show a very important in marketing, finance, and store vast amounts of information on sales, significant rise in capital productivity. design, the rise of ICT is unlikely to displace inventories, and financial transactions has had In industries—such as scientific instru- large firms from their dominant position, but very far-reaching effects on banks, insurance ments, telecommunications, and watches it is leading them to surround themselves companies, retail chains, and supermarkets. —that have already been heavily penetrated with a penumbra of nearby specialized satel- It has made possible savings in capital and by microelectronics, both in their product and lite firms. materials as well as labor-saving organiza- process technology, labor productivity has Second, the use of ICT to link firms with tional and technical changes. risen considerably and recently even capital their suppliers of inputs, and to link produc- Sixth, the use of ICT to integrate design, productivity has advanced. Finance & Development I September 1989 47 ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution technology. Their resistance to technical Institutional change and productivity growth in Japan change can be overcome only by a prolonged process of social change.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • National Innovation Systems: a Retrospective on a Study*
    National Innovation Systems: A Retrospective on a Study* RICHARD R. NELSON (School of International and Public Aflkirs, Columbia University, 420 .West 118th' Street, New York, NY 10027, USA) Downloaded from 1. What is the Study About? http://icc.oxfordjournals.org In this essay I will describe a large comparative study of national innovation systems that has just been completed, tell something of what motivated the study and how it was organized and undertaken, and highlight some of the more interesting findings. This is a difficult task, for the project was not only large but also complex. The heart of the project consisted of studies of 15 countries, including all of the prominent large market oriented industrialized ones, several smaller high income countries, and a number of newly industrializing states. The studies were carefully designed, developed, and written to illuminate the at University of Manchester on June 24, 2010 institutions and mechanisms supporting technical innovation in the various countries, the similarities and differences across countries and how these came to be, and to permit at least preliminary discussion of how the differences seemed to matter. No other project has come remotely close to g treating the range of countries considered here. Moreover, many of the individual studies stand as major contributions in their own right to the J *A volume, containing the full study, will be published in the fill of 1992, under the title of N«/»W Imoin Sysltms: A Ctmpertthx Study, by the Oxford University Pros. Funding for the project was ~j provided by the American Enterprise Institute, Columbia University's Center for Japanese Economy and | Business, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the Sloan Foundation through its support ^ of the Consortium on Competition and Cooperation.
    [Show full text]
  • ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Uppsala Studies in Economic History, 81 Cover Photograph by Magnus Eklund Magnus Eklund
    ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Uppsala Studies in Economic History, 81 Cover photograph by Magnus Eklund Magnus Eklund Adoption of the Innovation System Concept in Sweden Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Hörsal 2, Ekonomikum, Kyrkogårdsgatan 10, Uppsala, Thursday, September 27, 2007 at 10:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in Swedish. Abstract Eklund, M. 2007. Adoption of the Innovation System Concept in Sweden. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala Studies in Economic History 81. 158 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-6943-6. In 2001 Sweden founded the government agency of VINNOVA, named after the OECD-endorsed innovation system concept. Criticising the common assumption that countries are passive and uncritical recipients of the approaches promoted by the OECD, this dissertation tries to show that Swedish actors were in fact very active and strategic as they contributed to the national adoption of the concept. With inspiration from conceptual history and Quentin Skinner’s analysis of the rhetorical use of concepts, this study focuses on the research funding reform process between 1995 and 2001, investigating how actors trying to defend the contested institution of sectoral research used the innovation system concept to rhetorically legitimise their project. To compare these uses with earlier ways of discussing innovation in Sweden, the innovation debate that arose in relation to the industrial crises of the 1970s and 1990s has also been studied. It was found that the early Swedish innovation debate had paid little attention to the university sector. When Research 2000 in 1998 proposed that researcher-dominated research councils should be given control over sectoral research funding, a coalition in favour of industrially relevant research mobilised to protect its influence over research funding.
    [Show full text]
  • Freeman on Innovation System Research and Economic Development
    FREEMAN ON INNOVATION SYSTEM RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Freeman Centenary Lecture January 7, 2021 Bengt-Åke Lundvall Aalborg University A Uniquely Human Outstanding Scholar • When I first met Christopher Freeman around 1980 he was 60 years old while I was 40. He became a close friend and my most important mentor. • He shaped the mind of several generations of students from all parts of the world through his personality and scholarship. • He created much of the infrastructure of innovation studies – Science Policy Research Unit and Research Policy. • After retiring from SPRU he helped to build Merit in Maastricht, Redesist in Rio, the IKE-group in Aalborg and he supported the formation of Globelics. Introduction to the lecture • For a broader coverage of Freeman’s contributions to social science consult Fagerberg, J. & Fosaas, M. & Bell, M & Martin, B., 2011. ”Christopher Freeman: Social Science Entrepreneur”, Research Policy. • For a broader introduction to the national innovation system literature you can listen to two video NIS-lectures – see www.cris- is.org/reference - and read Chaminade, C., Lundvall B-Å and Hanef, S. (2018), Advanced Introduction to National Innovation Systems, Elgar. • This lecture is focused specifically on Freeman’s contributions on world development, national innovation systems and economic development. • It reflects work in progress on US-China rivalry and the tech giants from the US and China done together with Cecilia Rikap. Structure of presentation 1. Freeman (1982-2002) on National Innovation Systems and World Development. 1. Key concepts 2. Method 2. Timeliness of his work on NIS and Catching-up 1. Two stories of catching up – Japan vs China 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Fordist 'Ideal Type' ? - Melabour Process in Mejapanese Manufacturing Sector, 1 967 - 1 990
    POST-FORDIST 'IDEAL TYPE' ? - MELABOUR PROCESS IN MEJAPANESE MANUFACTURING SECTOR, 1 967 - 1 990 DAVID TlLEY l NSTITUTE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY CARLETON UNIVERSITY National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*m of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaON K1AON4 ûüawaON K1AON4 Canada Canada Yow Me votre dm Our tue Nom rdUrenql The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loqdistnbute or seil reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfichelnlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur fonnat électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Within the Western leR, recent attention has focused on the notion that the labour process in Japan rnight possibly be a successor model to the aliegedly moribund 'Fordist' phase of capitalist development. Our central hypothesis is that the organization of work in Japan cannot be considered the 'post-Fordist' ideal-type, as it promotes a quality of working life no more empowering for workers than that of other advanced capitalist economies.
    [Show full text]
  • Christopher Freeman Who Passed Away on Monday August 16Th 2010
    In memory of Chris Freeman (11/09/1921-16/08/2010) Christopher Freeman who passed away on Monday August 16th 2010 was not just the founding Director of the Science Policy Research Unit (today the Science and Technology Policy Research www.sussex.ac.uk/spru) at the University of Sussex in 1966, he was, and probably less known to many, also the intellectual anchorage behind the creation of MERIT in 1988. He continued to be heavily involved in MERIT research for at least another 15 years. At the opening of the institute, and maybe to the surprise of many of the Dutch officials present, Freeman emphasized in particular the importance of the need for intellectual and financial independence from changing policy fortunes, and MERIT (and UNU-MERIT today) certainly cherished that advice over the years. It is twenty two years after the event, particularly moving to listen to Chris Freeman's speech at the opening of MERIT back in 1988. The other lectures at that opening were given by the late Ilja Prigogine and Zvi Griliches. At MERIT Chris Freeman was very active in getting involved in many of the first MERIT projects, too many to list here. But his influence on both staff and students in those early years was phenomenal. A whole generation of scholars and PhD students from John Hagedoorn to Jerry Silverberg, Patrick van Cayseele, Bart Verspagen, Rajneesh Narula, Aldo Geuna, Anthony Arundel, Rene Kemp, Adriaan van Zon, Paul Diederen, Theon van Dijk, Hans van Meijl, Acharya Rohini and many more were involved in joint research projects with Chris Chris Freeman speaking at the opening of and wrote joint papers with him.
    [Show full text]
  • The Intellectual and Scientific Basis of Science, Technology and Innovation Research Aurora A.C
    This article was downloaded by: [b-on: Biblioteca do conhecimento online UP] On: 06 September 2014, At: 15:25 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ciej20 The intellectual and scientific basis of science, technology and innovation research Aurora A.C. Teixeiraa & José Miguel Silvab a CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto; OBEGEF, Porto, Portugal b Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Published online: 13 May 2013. To cite this article: Aurora A.C. Teixeira & José Miguel Silva (2013) The intellectual and scientific basis of science, technology and innovation research, Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 26:4, 472-490, DOI: 10.1080/13511610.2013.786910 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2013.786910 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information.
    [Show full text]
  • TIK WORKING PAPERS on Innovation Studies No. 20110926
    Centre for technology, TIK innovation and culture P.O. BOX 1108 Blindern N-0317 OSLO Norway Eilert Sundts House, 7th floor Moltke Moesvei 31 Phone: +47 22 84 16 00 Fax: +47 22 84 16 01 http://www.sv.uio.no/tik/ [email protected] TIK WORKING PAPERS on Innovation Studies No. 20110926 http://ideas.repec.org/s/tik/inowpp.html Senter for teknologi, innovasjon og kultur Universitetet i Oslo Christopher Freeman: Social Science Entrepreneur Jan Fagerberg*†#, Morten Fosaas*, Martin Bell† and Ben R. Martin† * Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK), University of Oslo, PO Box 1108, Blindern, N-0317, Oslo, Norway † SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research, The Freeman Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QE, UK # CIRCLE, Lund University, Box 117, 221 00 Lund, SWEDEN Corresponding author: Jan Fagerberg ([email protected]) Abstract This paper focuses on Christopher Freeman’s contributions to the field of innovation studies. First, we consider his role as the creator of various organisational and intellectual frameworks crucial for the field’s development, including the main research activities he initiated. Next, we examine the publications by Freeman that these activities led to. A database of surveys of the innovation literature, assembled from articles in handbooks covering this area, is used to identify the most influential of his writings for this field. In addition, citations to these works in scholarly journals are analysed in order to examine the nature and extent of his influence on other scholars. The final section sums up the evidence regarding Freeman’s influence on the field’s development .
    [Show full text]
  • Economics of Technology Xxii List Ofcontributors O
    ('rY~r' Economics of Technology xxii List ofContributors O. Granstrand (Editor) C 1994 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. HAkan HAkansson The University of Uppsala, Dept of Business Administration, Box 513, S-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden tel: +46-18-18 13 58, fax: +46-18-55 53 86 Svante Lindqvist The Royal Institute of Technology, Department of History of Science CHAPTER 1 and Technology, S-I00 44 Stockholm, Sweden tel: +46-8-790 72 35, fax: +46-8-21 2926 AlmariD PbUlips Ahnarin Phillips Inc., 1115 Remington Road, Wynnewood, Economics of Technology Permsylvania 19096, USA tel: +1-215-896-5017, fax: +1-215-896-7074 -An Introduction and Overview of a Developing Field1 Nathan Rosenberg Stanford University, Department of Economics, Stanford, California 94305, USA tel: +1415-723-1902, fax: +1415-858-2514 Dve Granstrand*, Chalmers University of Technology F.M. Scherer Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA Chapter contents: tel: +1-617495-9510, fax: +1-617496-0063 1.1 Technology and Economy in Interaction 2 1.2 The Need for Technology and Economics in Interaction 3 Luc Soete Maastricht Economic Research, Institute on Innovation and Technology, 1.3 The Emergence of Economics of Technology 7 MERIT, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands 1.4 Outline of the Book 24 tel: +3143-88 38 91, fax: +3143-21 65 18 Abstract Ulrich Wengenroth Deutsches Musewn, 0-80306 Miinchen 26, Gennany tel: +49-89-2179 403, fax: +49-89-2179 324 The basic motive behind the study of economics of technology in general and behind this book specifically is outlined.
    [Show full text]
  • Technological Revolutions and Techno-Economic Paradigms
    TOC/TUT Working Paper No. 20 Working Papers in Technology Governance and Economic Dynamics The Other Canon Foundation, Norway and Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn http://hum.ttu.ee/tg/ Technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigms Carlota Perez1 January 20, 2009 Abstract: This paper locates the notion of technological revolutions in the Neo-Schumpeterian effort to understand innovation and to identify the regularities, continuities and discontinuities in the process of innovation. It looks at the micro- and meso-foundations of the patterns observed in the evolution of technical change and the interrelations with the context that shape the rhythm and direction of innovation. On this basis, it defines technological revolutions, examines their structure and the role that they play in rejuvenating the whole economy through the application of the accompanying techno-economic paradigm. This over-arching meta-paradigm or shared best practice ‘common sense’ is in turn defined and analysed in its components and its impact, including the influence it exercises on institutional and social change. Contents Innovation as the dynamic space for the study of technical change 2 The regularities of technical change: innovation trajectories 3 New technology systems and their interactions 4 Technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigms 5 The structure of technological revolutions 7 The emergence of a techno-economic paradigm 9 The changes in the cost structure ..................................................................................................................................10
    [Show full text]
  • National Innovation Systems
    Advanced Introduction to National Innovation Systems M4488-CHAMINADE_9781785362019_t (Bleed).indd 1 02/03/2018 10:13 Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major felds in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they ofer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Te aims of the series are two-fold: to pinpoint essential principles of a par- ticular feld, and to ofer insights that stimulate critical thinking. By distill- ing the vast and often technical corpus of information on the subject into a concise and meaningful form, the books serve as accessible introductions for undergraduate and graduate students coming to the subject for the frst time. Importantly, they also develop well-informed, nuanced critiques of the feld that will challenge and extend the understanding of advanced students, scholars and policy-makers. For a full list of titles in the series please see the back of the book. Recent titles in the series include: Public Management and Corporate Venturing Administration Robert D. Hisrich Christopher Pollitt Public Choice Organised Crime Randall G. Holcombe Leslie Holmes Private Law Nationalism Jan M. Smits Liah Greenfeld Globalisation Social Policy Jonathan Michie Daniel Béland and Rianne Mahon Behavioral Economics Consumer Behavior Analysis John F. Tomer Gordon Foxall Environmental Impact Assessment Entrepreneurial Finance Angus Morrison-Saunders Hans
    [Show full text]
  • Working Paper Series
    Working Paper Series #2007-001 Developing science, technology and innovation indicators: what we can learn from the past (January 2007) Christopher Freeman (SPRU, University of Sussex) and Luc Soete (UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University) United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology Keizer Karelplein 19, 6211 TC Maastricht, The Netherlands Tel: (31) (43) 350 6300, Fax: (31) (43) 350 6399, e-mail: [email protected], URL: http://www.merit.unu.edu Developing science, technology and innovation indicators: what we can learn from the past1 (January 2007) Christopher Freeman (SPRU, University of Sussex) and Luc Soete (UNU-MERIT and University of Maastricht) Abstract The science-technology-innovation system is one that is continuously and rapidly evolving. The dramatic growth over the last twenty years in the use of science, technology and innovation (STI) indicators appears first and foremost the result of a combination between on the one hand the easiness of computerized access to an increasing number of measures of STI and on the other hand the interest in a growing number of public policy and private business circles in such indicators as might be expected in societies which increasingly use organised science and technology to achieve a wide variety of social and economic objectives and in which business competition is increasingly based on innovation. As highlighted on the basis of 40 years of indicators work, frontiers and characteristics that were important last century may well no longer be so relevant today and indeed may even be positively misleading. UNU-MERIT Working Papers ISSN 1871-9872 Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology, UNU-MERIT UNU-MERIT Working Papers intend to disseminate preliminary results of research carried out at the Centre to stimulate discussion on the issues raised.
    [Show full text]
  • A World of Systems in Christopher Freeman's Research Programme
    A World of Systems in Christopher Freeman’s Research Programme Tracing the System Approach to Capitalist Evolution and Social Economics in the Spirit of Joseph Schumpeter MA - TIK Thesis By Morten Fosaas Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture Faculty of Social Sciences UNIVERSITY OF OSLO May 2010 TIK Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture Abstract The system approach developed by Christopher Freeman can arguably be fruitfully applied to explain and understand the systemic interdependencies of technology, economics, and social change, a framework deduced from Joseph Schumpeter. This thesis is therefore concerned with investigating Christopher Freeman‟s research programme and assesses it in detail and in relation to Schumpeter‟s notion of a “broad kind of economics”, namely Social Economics. It presents central books and journal articles written by Freeman, and analyses especially the evolution of his system approach to capitalist evolution. The assessment is done in the spirit of Schumpeter in the sense that parallels are drawn between Freeman‟s theories and propositions and what we have termed Schumpeter‟s Social Economics. The thesis traces the evolution of the system approach along four assumed features; that the National System of Innovations is deduced form the idea of the R&D system identified in “The Economic of Industrial Innovation” (1974). The second evolutionary feature is the connection between the development of technology systems and techno-economic paradigms, as well as a connection between these two systems and the national system of innovation. The third feature is the connection between techno-economic paradigms and the long wave pattern in world economic development.
    [Show full text]