News Bulletin :

Administrative details :

You may find the "NBER Papers in Productivity" in HERE

Class PPTs :

Readings :

most of the articles are supplied in .pdf format. You may download the acrobat reader here

1. Introduction

1.1 Smith, Adam, The Wealth of Nations. Book I, Ch.I "Of the Division of Labour" (pp 3-21). New York: The Modern Library, 1937.

1.2 Schumpeter, Joseph, A. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. Ch. V: "The Rate of Increase of Total Output" (pp. 63-71), and Ch. VII, "The Process of Creative Destruction" (pp. 81-86). Unwin University Books, 1954.

1.3 Kuznets, Simon, "Problems of Definition and Measurement" In The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity. 1962 pp. 19-43.

1.4 Mokyr, Joel, The Lever of Riches. Ch. 5: "The Years of Miracles: The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1830" (pp. 81 112). Oxford University Press, 1990.

2. Innovation: Incentives and Market Structure

2.1 Arrow, Kenneth, “Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention.” In R. Nelson (ed.), The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity. New York, Arno Press, 1975 (reprint).

2.2 Dasgupta, P. and J. Stiglitz, "Uncertainty, Industrial Structure, and the Speed of R&D." The Bell Journal of Economics, 1980 (11), pp. 1 28. (Low quality smaller file here )

2.3 Jaffe, Adam, “Technological Opportunity and Spillovers of R&D: Evidence from Firm’s Patents, Profits, and Market Value.” American Economic Review , December 1986, pp. 984-1001. (Low quality smaller file here )

2.4 Tirole, Jean, The Theory of Industrial Organization. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989. Ch. 10.

Additional readings:

2.5 Spence, M. "Cost Reduction, Competition and Industry Performance." Econometrica, 1984 (52), pp. 101 122. (Low quality smaller file here )

2.6 Cohen, W. and Levin, R. “Empirical Studies of Innovation and Market Structure” In R. Schmalensee and R. Willing (eds.), Handbook of Industrial Economics. Amsterdam: North Holland, 1989.

3. General Purpose Technologies (GPTs): From the Steam Engine to Computers

3.1 Bresnahan, T. and M. Trajtenberg, "General Purpose Technologies: Engines of Growth?" Journal of Econometrics, 1995.

3.2 Helpman, E. and M. Trajtenberg, "A Time to Sow and a Time to Reap: Growth Based on General Purpose Technologies". In Helpman, E. (ed.), General Purpose Technologies and Economic Growth. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998.

3.3 Greenwood, Jeremy, and Boyan Jovanovic, “The Information-Technology Revolution and the Stock Market.” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1999.

3.4 Rosenberg, Nathan, "Technological Change in the Machine Tool Industry: 1840-1910. In: Perspectives on Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

3.5 David, Paul, "Computer and Dynamo: The modern productivity paradox in a not too distant mirror". in Technology and Productivity, the Challange for Economic Policy. O.E.C.D., Paris 1991, pp. 315 347.

Additional readings:

3.6 Fogel, Robert W., "Railroads and American economic growth", In R. Fogel and S. Engerman (eds.), The Reinterpretation of American Economic History., 1971.

3.7 Rosenberg, Nathan, "Technological Interdependency in the American Economy". In: Inside the Black Box: Technology and Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982 (pp. 55 80).

3.8 Jovanovic, Boyan and Peter L. Rousseau, “General Purpose Technologies” Mimeo, January 2003 (for Aghion, P. and Durlauf eds., The Handbook of Growth)

3.9 Rosenberg, Nathan and M. Trajtenberg, “A General Purpose Technology at Work: The Corliss Steam Engine in the late 19th Century US”. Forthcoming, Journal of Economic History.

4. The Impact of Innovations: First hand evidence

4.1 Griliches, Zvi, “Hybrid Corn: An Exploration in the Economics of Technological Change.” Econometrica, 1957. (Low quality smaller file here )

4.2 Trajtenberg, Manuel, "The Welfare Analysis of Product Innovations, with an Application to Computed Tomography Scanners". Journal of Political Economy, April 1989, 97(2), 444-479. (Low quality smaller file here )

4.3 Gordon, Robert J. “The Postwar Evolution of Computer Prices.” In Jorgenson Dale and Ralph Landau (Eds.), Technology and Capital Formation. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989.

4.4 Raff, Daniel and Manuel Trajtenberg, "Quality-Adjusted Prices for the American Automobile Industry: 1906-1940”. In Bresnahan, Tim and Roberg Gordon (eds.), New Goods. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1997, pp. 71-101.

4.5 Hausman, Jerry A. "Valuation of New Goods Under Perfect and Imperfect Competition," in Bresnahan, Tim and Robert Gordon (eds.), The Economics of New Goods, University of Chicago Press, 1997.

4.6 Autor, David, Levy, Frank, and Richard Murnane, “The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: an Empirical Exploration.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), November 2003.

Additional Readings:

4.7 Griliches, Zvi, “Research Costs and Social Returns: Hybrid Corn and Related Innovations.” Journal of Political Economy, (66) 5, October 1958. (Low quality smaller file here )

4.8 Hausman, Jerry, “The Competitive Effects of a New Product Introduction: A Case Study”, with G. Leonard, Journal of Industrial Economics, 50, 2002.

4.9 Trajtenberg, Manuel, Economic Analysis of Product Innovation - The Case of CT Scanners. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1990.

4.10 Pakes, Ariel, “A Reconsideration of Hedonic Price Indexes with an Application to PC’s.” Forthcoming, American Economic Review.

4.11 Hall, Bronwyn, “Innovation and Diffusion.” NBER WP 10212, January 2004.

5. The Economics of Patents I: Intellectual Property issues

5.1 Scotchmer, Suzanne, Innovation and Incentives. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004.

5.2 Gallini, Nancy and Suzanne Scotchmer, “Intellectual Property: When is it the best incentive system?” In Jaffe, Lerner and Stern (eds.), Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 2, pp. 51-77. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002.

5.3 Kremer, Michael, “Patent Buyouts: A Mechanism for Encouraging Innovation.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1998, 113, 1137-1167. (Low quality smaller file here )

Additional Readings:

5.4 Lerner, Josh, "The Importance of Patent Scope: An Empirical Analysis", Rand Journal of Economics 25 (Summer 1994): 319-33. (Low quality smaller file here )

5.5 Lerner, Josh, "Patenting in the Shadow of Competitors," Journal of Law and Economics 38 (October 1995): 563-95.

5.6 Lerner, Josh, “150 Years of Patent Protection.” NBER WP 7478, January 2000.

6. The Economic of Patents II: Indicators of Innovation

6.1 Jaffe, A. Henderson, R. and M. Trajtenberg, "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations”. Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1993, pp. 577-598. (Low quality smaller file here )

6.2 Schankerman, M. and A. Pakes, "Estimates of the Value of Patent Rights in European Countries During the Post 1950 Period." Economic Journal, 1986, pp. 1 25. (Low quality smaller file here )

6.3 Jaffe, Adam and Manuel Trajtenberg, Patents, Citations and Innovations: A Window on the Knowledge Economy. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002 (includes data CD).

6.4 Kortum, S. and J. Lerner, "Stronger Protection or Technological Revolution: What is Behind the Recent Surge in Patenting?" Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, 48 (June 1998) 247-304.

Possible additional topic:

7. The Role of History in Determining the Path of Technical Change

7.1 David, Paul "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY." American Economic Review, May 1985, pp. 47 52. (Low quality smaller file here )

7.2 Arthur, Brian, "Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock In by Historical Events." Economic Journal, March 1989 (99), pp. 116 131. (Low quality smaller file here )

7.3 Arthur, Brian, "Positive Feedbacks in the Economy." Scientific American, February 1990, pp. 92 99.

7.4 Krugman, Paul, Peddling Prosperity. New York: W.W Norton & Co., 1994. Ch. 9, pp. 221 229.