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Topic outline

 

  • Time: 15 hours
    Level: Intermediate

 
 

Introduction

  • Introduction Resource
  • This unit takes one aspect of the debate concerning the new economy – innovation in the form of the introduction of information and communication technologies – and places it in the historical context...
 

1 Technological advancement

 

2 Technological change and economic growth

 

3 Information technology, productivity and growth

  • 3.1 The impact of information technology Resource
  • Having discussed the radical and pervasive effect that inventions in previous eras have had on economy-wide productivity, and how they have even defined entire periods, we shall now ask how the rise of...
  • 3.2 Is productivity sustainable? Resource
  • Are the recent increases in productivity sustainable? The answer to this question, and the crux of the debate concerning the effect of IT, centres on distinguishing whether recent increases in productivity...
  • 3.3 A summary Resource
  • I have shown that, while IT has no doubt had an impact on productivity, it is not clear whether this goes beyond the IT-producing sector, or whether the gains will outlast the boom period of the business...
 

4 ‘Garage tinkerers’: new economy or industry life cycle?

  • 4.1 Introduction Resource
  • As you have now seen, the concept of the ‘new economy’ has inspired a number of studies that compare the effect that new technologies have had on economy-wide productivity in previous eras with the effect...
  • 4.2 The industry life cycle Resource
  • The comparison between the automobile industry and the PC industry makes sense only if we concentrate on similar periods in their evolution. We will concentrate here on the ‘early’ development of both...
  • 4.3 Live fast, die young Resource
  • Both the automobile and PC industries were characterised by a great deal of turbulence in the first 20 to 30 years of their existence. In both cases, many new firms entered the industry, introduced new...
  • 4.4 Prices and industrial change Resource
  • Many of the new entrants entered by introducing a new variation of the product. In fact, the early period in both industries was characterised by much technological change in the form of product innovation....
  • 4.5 Technological change Resource
  • In both industries the fall in prices was driven by radical changes in the production of the products. How might we investigate the technological changes and the changes in quality that occurred in both...
  • 4.6 Changes in industry structure Resource
  • How did the turbulence caused by new firms entering and leaving the industry, radical technological change and falling prices affect the overall industry structure? The term ‘industry structure’ refers...
  • 4.7 The future? Resource
  • In the USA, the automobile reached the 50 per cent household penetration rate in 1923, about 23 years into the industry's development. The PC reached that threshold rate in 1999, also about 23 years into...
 

5 Conclusion

  • 5 Conclusion Resource
  • This chapter has enabled you to think about the essential role of technological change in determining economy-wide growth and the growth of firms and industries. We have seen that many issues surrounding...
 

Questions for review and discussion

  • Questions for review and discussion Resource
  • Suppose a firm uses 200 hours of labour per day and produces 4000 mobile phones. It then reduces its labour inputs to 100 hours per day and finds it can produce 3000 phones. Which one of the following...
 

References and Acknowledgements

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