American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Read All about It!! What Happens Following a Technology Shock?
American Economic Review
vol. 101,
no. 4, June 2011
(pp. 1144–79)
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 )Citation
Alexopoulos, Michelle. 2011. "Read All about It!! What Happens Following a Technology Shock?" American Economic Review, 101 (4): 1144–79. DOI: 10.1257/aer.101.4.1144Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E22 Capital; Investment; Capacity
- E23 Macroeconomics: Production
- E32 Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- O33 Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
- O34 Intellectual Property Rights
- O47 Measurement of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence