No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Michael R. Langemeier / This study applies recent advances in nonparametric techniques to investigate growth in labor productivity and convergence in the Kansas farm sector for a panel of 564 farms for the period 1993-2007. The study seeks to answer two questions: First, what are the sources of labor productivity growth in the farm sector and second, is there evidence of convergence or divergence in the growth rate of labor productivity across farms? Following Kumar and Russell (2002), the nonparametric production frontier approach is used to decompose the growth in output per worker into three components: efficiency change, technical change, and capital deepening. Kernel density estimation methods are used to investigate the evolution of the entire distribution of labor productivity and the effects of each of those three growth components on the evolution of the distributions over the sample periods, 1993-07, 1993-02, and 1996-05. Cross-sectional regression methods (ordinary least square, partial linear model, and smooth coefficient model) are later employed to test for convergence in labor productivity growth and the contribution of each of the components to the convergence process. The study yields the following results. First, capital deepening and technical change are the main sources of labor productivity growth. Efficiency change is a source of regress in productivity growth. Second, technical change is not neutral. Third, the distribution of labor productivity in the farm sector has remained unimodal. Capital deepening and technical change are the main factors contributing to labor productivity distributions. Fourth, despite no evidence of technological catching-up, efficiency change and capital deepening contributed to convergence in the growth rate of labor productivity during the entire sample period. Technical change contributes to productivity disparity in the 1993-07 period. The contribution of technical change in the 1993-02 and 1996-05 periods are mixed with evidence of both convergence and disparity. Finally, the results for the 1993-07 period support the existence of a positive relationship between the annual growth in technical change and initial level of capital-labor ratio, suggesting that technology is embodied in capital accumulation.

In this study an attempt has been made to explore the role of technology transfer in the economic growth of Iraq, through the change in the technology itself for the period 1960-1978. For this purpose the economy was disaggregated into seven sectors. The experience of developed countries has shown that technical change is one of the most important factors of economic growth alongside, or even overshadowing, such factors as labour and capital. In the light of technology transfer, developing countries have the advantage of introducing high levels of advancement of knowledge which can be used to induce domestic technical change at later stages. Technical change is normally defined as a shift in the production function, and for this reason two forms of production function were estimated and tested, i. e. the constant elasticity of substitution and the Cobb-Douglas function. Also two specifications (constant and variable) were assigned to technical change. To validate the use of these, statistical tests were conducted to establish the optimum fit. Then the selected form was used to simulate output levels for comparison with actual figures. The techniques used for estimation are both linear and non-linear. Data used are time series in real terms of capital stock and output, as well as number of persons employed. Furthermore in order to judge the importance of technical change to the growth of output on aggregate and sectoral levels, as regards economic growth, comparisons were drawn with existing data from other developed and developing countries, including centrally planned economies.

Seminal papers of Solow (1957) and Swan (1956) stimulated debate among economists on the role of technical change in productivity improvements and for that matter economic growth. The consensus is that technological change accounts for a significant proportion of gross national product (GNP) growth in industrialised economies. In the case of Australia, the aggregate productivity performance was poor in the 1970s and 1980s, but picked up very strongly by the 1990s, and was above the OECD average growth level for the first time in its productivity growth history. However, this high productivity growth rate could not be sustained and Australia started to experience a slowdown in productivity growth since 2000. This study empirically measures the performance of productivity in Australia’s economy for the period 1950-2005, using an econometric approach. Time-series data are used to develop econometric models that capture the dynamic interactions between GDP, fixed capital, labour units, human capital, foreign direct investment (FDI) and information and communication technology (ICT). The Johansen (1988) cointegration techniques are used to establish a long-run steady-state relation between or among economic time series. The econometric analysis pays careful attention to the time-series properties of the data by conducting unit root and conintegration tests for the variables in the system. / This study finds that Australia experienced productivity growth in the 1950s, a slow down in the mid 1960s, a very strong productivity growth in the mid 1990s and another slowdown from 2000 onwards. The study finds evidence that human capital, FDI and ICT are very strong determinants of long-run GDP and productivity growth in Australia. The study finds that the three, four and the five factor models are likely to give better measures of productivity performance in Australia as these models recognise human capital, FDI and ICT and include them as separate factors in the production function, This study finds evidence that the previous studies on the Australia’s productivity puzzle have made a very significant omission by not considering human capital, FDI and ICT as additional exogenous variables and by excluding them from the production function for productivity analysis.

Since the dawn of the capitalist epoch, most advanced countries have seen more than a hundred fold change in their total products. This combined with a near five fold change in population size had brought a huge windfall of wealth in these countries. The main engine for this capitalist machine has been the accelaration of technical progress (Maddison, 1982). In this paper we investigate for the positive relationship between the existing stock of technology and accelaration of technical progress. We use the time series data from 1982-2002 to test our regression model. The model encapsulates annual patents turnover (proxy for acceleration of technical progress), patent stock (proxy for technological stock) and R&D expenditures of four advanced countries as the primary variables, where the former acts as the dependent variable and the later two act as the determinant variables. The model projects a highly significant positive relationship between technology stock and the pace of technological progress, endorsing our hypothesis.

<p>Since the dawn of the capitalist epoch, most advanced countries have seen more than a hundred fold change in their total products. This combined with a near five fold change in population size had brought a huge windfall of wealth in these countries. The main engine for this capitalist machine has been the accelaration of technical progress (Maddison, 1982). In this paper we investigate for the positive relationship between the existing stock of technology and accelaration of technical progress. We use the time series data from 1982-2002 to test our regression model. The model encapsulates annual patents turnover (proxy for acceleration of technical progress), patent stock (proxy for technological stock) and R&D expenditures of four advanced countries as the primary variables, where the former acts as the dependent variable and the later two act as the determinant variables. The model projects a highly significant positive relationship between technology stock and the pace of technological progress, endorsing our hypothesis.</p>

A tese analisa o processo de desenvolvimento econômico capitalista de longo prazo como resultado de um processo evolucionário de mudança tecnológica e institucional para explicar as distintas trajetórias de crescimento e de industrialização observadas na economia mundial. O trabalho assume que o desenvolvimento capitalista é resultado do surgimento e difusão das sucessivas ondas de mudança estrutural provocadas pela emergência das revoluções tecnológicas e paradigmas tecnoeconômicos. Assume-se que os países que avançam no processo de industrialização e seguem trajetórias exitosas de crescimento sustentado dos níveis de renda e produtividade, historicamente, são países que possuem (ou buscam construir) o conjunto de instituições necessárias para o desenvolvimento das novas tecnologias e indústrias chave de cada período. A partir dessa perspectiva, a hipótese central da tese é de que as revoluções tecnológicas emergem nos países industrialmente avançados e se propagam tardiamente para os países da periferia, permitindo assim, o processo de industrialização desses países. Nesse contexto, busca-se mostrar que o processo de industrialização da América Latina ocorreu na fase de esgotamento da quarta revolução tecnológica viabilizado pela propagação tardia das indústrias do paradigma para a periferia. No entanto, esse processo se deu com transferência de tecnologia estrangeira nos setores mais dinâmicos do paradigma sem exigir o desenvolvimento institucional adequado para o avanço das capacidades tecnológicas nacionais capazes de permitir o ingresso no novo paradigma, marcado pela revolução da informação. Como resultado, a América Latina ingressou em uma trajetória de lento crescimento industrial e de elevada participação de setores intensivos em recursos naturais e de baixa intensidade tecnológica. Por outro lado, os países da Ásia avançaram com sucesso nas novas indústrias da tecnologia da informação, por construírem instituições adequadas ao desenvolvimento das capacidades tecnológicas das firmas nacionais durante o período de substituição de importações, resultando no rápido crescimento da renda per capita e da produtividade para níveis convergentes com a fronteira tecnológica. / The thesis analyzes the process of capitalist economic development as a result of the evolutionary process of institutional and technological change to explain the different trajectories of growth and industrialization observed in the world economy. The capitalist development can be understood as a result of the rise and spread of successive waves of structural change caused by the emergence of technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigms. It is assumed that countries that go forward in the industrialization process and follow successful trajectories of sustained growth of productivity and income levels, historically, are countries that have (or manage to build) the appropriate set of institutions required for the development of new technologies and key industries in each period. From this perspective, the central hypothesis of the thesis is that technological revolutions emerge in industrial advanced countries and spread later to the periphery, allowing the process of industrialization in these countries. In this context, the Latin America industrialization process occurred at the stage of exhaustion of the fourth technological revolution enabled by the late spread of these core industries to the periphery. This process happened with foreign technology transfer in the most dynamic sectors of the paradigm without requiring the appropriate institutional development for the advancement of national technological capabilities to progress to the new paradigm, marked by the information technology revolution. As a result, Latin America entered in a divergent growth trajectory of per capita income and productivity with advanced countries, marked by slow growth and industrial increasing share of intensive in natural resources and low-technology intensity sectors. In turn, Asian countries did the catching up in the new industries of information technology by building appropriate institutions for the development of technological skills of domestic firms during the process of industrialization, resulting in the fast growth of per capita income and productivity levels convergent with the technological frontier.

A tese analisa o processo de desenvolvimento econômico capitalista de longo prazo como resultado de um processo evolucionário de mudança tecnológica e institucional para explicar as distintas trajetórias de crescimento e de industrialização observadas na economia mundial. O trabalho assume que o desenvolvimento capitalista é resultado do surgimento e difusão das sucessivas ondas de mudança estrutural provocadas pela emergência das revoluções tecnológicas e paradigmas tecnoeconômicos. Assume-se que os países que avançam no processo de industrialização e seguem trajetórias exitosas de crescimento sustentado dos níveis de renda e produtividade, historicamente, são países que possuem (ou buscam construir) o conjunto de instituições necessárias para o desenvolvimento das novas tecnologias e indústrias chave de cada período. A partir dessa perspectiva, a hipótese central da tese é de que as revoluções tecnológicas emergem nos países industrialmente avançados e se propagam tardiamente para os países da periferia, permitindo assim, o processo de industrialização desses países. Nesse contexto, busca-se mostrar que o processo de industrialização da América Latina ocorreu na fase de esgotamento da quarta revolução tecnológica viabilizado pela propagação tardia das indústrias do paradigma para a periferia. No entanto, esse processo se deu com transferência de tecnologia estrangeira nos setores mais dinâmicos do paradigma sem exigir o desenvolvimento institucional adequado para o avanço das capacidades tecnológicas nacionais capazes de permitir o ingresso no novo paradigma, marcado pela revolução da informação. Como resultado, a América Latina ingressou em uma trajetória de lento crescimento industrial e de elevada participação de setores intensivos em recursos naturais e de baixa intensidade tecnológica. Por outro lado, os países da Ásia avançaram com sucesso nas novas indústrias da tecnologia da informação, por construírem instituições adequadas ao desenvolvimento das capacidades tecnológicas das firmas nacionais durante o período de substituição de importações, resultando no rápido crescimento da renda per capita e da produtividade para níveis convergentes com a fronteira tecnológica. / The thesis analyzes the process of capitalist economic development as a result of the evolutionary process of institutional and technological change to explain the different trajectories of growth and industrialization observed in the world economy. The capitalist development can be understood as a result of the rise and spread of successive waves of structural change caused by the emergence of technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigms. It is assumed that countries that go forward in the industrialization process and follow successful trajectories of sustained growth of productivity and income levels, historically, are countries that have (or manage to build) the appropriate set of institutions required for the development of new technologies and key industries in each period. From this perspective, the central hypothesis of the thesis is that technological revolutions emerge in industrial advanced countries and spread later to the periphery, allowing the process of industrialization in these countries. In this context, the Latin America industrialization process occurred at the stage of exhaustion of the fourth technological revolution enabled by the late spread of these core industries to the periphery. This process happened with foreign technology transfer in the most dynamic sectors of the paradigm without requiring the appropriate institutional development for the advancement of national technological capabilities to progress to the new paradigm, marked by the information technology revolution. As a result, Latin America entered in a divergent growth trajectory of per capita income and productivity with advanced countries, marked by slow growth and industrial increasing share of intensive in natural resources and low-technology intensity sectors. In turn, Asian countries did the catching up in the new industries of information technology by building appropriate institutions for the development of technological skills of domestic firms during the process of industrialization, resulting in the fast growth of per capita income and productivity levels convergent with the technological frontier.

A tese analisa o processo de desenvolvimento econômico capitalista de longo prazo como resultado de um processo evolucionário de mudança tecnológica e institucional para explicar as distintas trajetórias de crescimento e de industrialização observadas na economia mundial. O trabalho assume que o desenvolvimento capitalista é resultado do surgimento e difusão das sucessivas ondas de mudança estrutural provocadas pela emergência das revoluções tecnológicas e paradigmas tecnoeconômicos. Assume-se que os países que avançam no processo de industrialização e seguem trajetórias exitosas de crescimento sustentado dos níveis de renda e produtividade, historicamente, são países que possuem (ou buscam construir) o conjunto de instituições necessárias para o desenvolvimento das novas tecnologias e indústrias chave de cada período. A partir dessa perspectiva, a hipótese central da tese é de que as revoluções tecnológicas emergem nos países industrialmente avançados e se propagam tardiamente para os países da periferia, permitindo assim, o processo de industrialização desses países. Nesse contexto, busca-se mostrar que o processo de industrialização da América Latina ocorreu na fase de esgotamento da quarta revolução tecnológica viabilizado pela propagação tardia das indústrias do paradigma para a periferia. No entanto, esse processo se deu com transferência de tecnologia estrangeira nos setores mais dinâmicos do paradigma sem exigir o desenvolvimento institucional adequado para o avanço das capacidades tecnológicas nacionais capazes de permitir o ingresso no novo paradigma, marcado pela revolução da informação. Como resultado, a América Latina ingressou em uma trajetória de lento crescimento industrial e de elevada participação de setores intensivos em recursos naturais e de baixa intensidade tecnológica. Por outro lado, os países da Ásia avançaram com sucesso nas novas indústrias da tecnologia da informação, por construírem instituições adequadas ao desenvolvimento das capacidades tecnológicas das firmas nacionais durante o período de substituição de importações, resultando no rápido crescimento da renda per capita e da produtividade para níveis convergentes com a fronteira tecnológica. / The thesis analyzes the process of capitalist economic development as a result of the evolutionary process of institutional and technological change to explain the different trajectories of growth and industrialization observed in the world economy. The capitalist development can be understood as a result of the rise and spread of successive waves of structural change caused by the emergence of technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigms. It is assumed that countries that go forward in the industrialization process and follow successful trajectories of sustained growth of productivity and income levels, historically, are countries that have (or manage to build) the appropriate set of institutions required for the development of new technologies and key industries in each period. From this perspective, the central hypothesis of the thesis is that technological revolutions emerge in industrial advanced countries and spread later to the periphery, allowing the process of industrialization in these countries. In this context, the Latin America industrialization process occurred at the stage of exhaustion of the fourth technological revolution enabled by the late spread of these core industries to the periphery. This process happened with foreign technology transfer in the most dynamic sectors of the paradigm without requiring the appropriate institutional development for the advancement of national technological capabilities to progress to the new paradigm, marked by the information technology revolution. As a result, Latin America entered in a divergent growth trajectory of per capita income and productivity with advanced countries, marked by slow growth and industrial increasing share of intensive in natural resources and low-technology intensity sectors. In turn, Asian countries did the catching up in the new industries of information technology by building appropriate institutions for the development of technological skills of domestic firms during the process of industrialization, resulting in the fast growth of per capita income and productivity levels convergent with the technological frontier.

In this study an attempt has been made to explore the role of technology transfer in the economic growth of Iraq, through the change in the technology itself for the period 1960-1978. For this purpose the economy was disaggregated into seven sectors. The experience of developed countries has shown that technical change is one of the most important factors of economic growth alongside, or even overshadowing, such factors as labour and capital. In the light of technology transfer, developing countries have the advantage of introducing high levels of advancement of knowledge which can be used to induce domestic technical change at later stages. Technical change is normally defined as a shift in the production function, and for this reason two forms of production function were estimated and tested, i. e. the constant elasticity of substitution and the Cobb-Douglas function. Also two specifications (constant and variable) were assigned to technical change. To validate the use of these, statistical tests were conducted to establish the optimum fit. Then the selected form was used to simulate output levels for comparison with actual figures. The techniques used for estimation are both linear and non-linear. Data used are time series in real terms of capital stock and output, as well as number of persons employed. Furthermore in order to judge the importance of technical change to the growth of output on aggregate and sectoral levels, as regards economic growth, comparisons were drawn with existing data from other developed and developing countries, including centrally planned economies.