IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sfu/sfudps/dp12-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Policy Implications of Alternative Economic Paradigms: Some surprises from endogenous technological changes

Author

Abstract

One of the most neglected issues in modern economics concerns the consequences of technological change that is ubiquitous and endogenous. To address these we need to model technology as more than a scalar value in an aggregate production function, dealing with technological change in its messy micro economic details. This paper illustrates these points by considering the policy implications of some alternative economic theories that treat technology differently. The first section contrasts the policy implications of neoclassical and evolutionary economics with respect to the evaluation of the efficiency of the price system, policies with respect to 'distortions,' policies to discourage monopolies, to encourage economic growth in general, and infant industries and specific technological advances in particular. The second section contrasts New Classical and various versions of Keynesian economics with respect to micro behavioural underpinnings of macro relations, the place of technology as a driving force of economic change, and aggregate demand as both a source of fluctuations and a variable to be manipulated by policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard G. Lipsey, 2012. "Policy Implications of Alternative Economic Paradigms: Some surprises from endogenous technological changes," Discussion Papers dp12-16, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    • Handle: RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp12-16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sfu.ca/repec-econ/sfu/sfudps/dp12-16.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Curtis Eaton, B. & Lipsey, Richard G., 1989. "Product differentiation," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 723-768, Elsevier.
    2. Richard G. Lipsey & William Scarth (ed.), 2011. "Inflation and Unemployment: The Evolution of the Phillips Curve," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 3567.
    3. Mark Blaug, 2007. "The Fundamental Theorems of Modern Welfare Economics, Historically Contemplated," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 39(2), pages 185-207, Summer.
    4. Kenneth Carlaw & Richard Lipsey, 2011. "Sustained endogenous growth driven by structured and evolving general purpose technologies," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 563-593, October.
    5. Lipsey, Richard G. & Carlaw, Kenneth I. & Bekar, Clifford T., 2005. "Economic Transformations: General Purpose Technologies and Long-Term Economic Growth," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199290895.
    6. R. G. Lipsey & Kelvin Lancaster, 1956. "The General Theory of Second Best," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 24(1), pages 11-32.
    7. Freeman, Chris & Louca, Francisco, 2002. "As Time Goes By: From the Industrial Revolutions to the Information Revolution," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199251056.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter Schmidt, 2018. "Market failure vs. system failure as a rationale for economic policy? A critique from an evolutionary perspective," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 785-803, September.
    2. Jack Vromen, 2013. "Competition as an evolutionary process: Mark Blaug and evolutionary economics," Chapters, in: Marcel Boumans & Matthias Klaes (ed.), Mark Blaug: Rebel with Many Causes, chapter 9, pages 98-124, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard G. Lipsey, 2012. "Twenty Five Methodological Issues in Memory of Mark Blaug," Discussion Papers dp12-18, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University, revised Mar 2013.
    2. Richard G. Lipsey, 2013. "Some contentious issues in theory and policy in memory of Mark Blaug," Chapters, in: Marcel Boumans & Matthias Klaes (ed.), Mark Blaug: Rebel with Many Causes, chapter 6, pages 31-62, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Mark Knell & Simone Vannuccini, 2022. "Tools and concepts for understanding disruptive technological change after Schumpeter," Jena Economics Research Papers 2022-005, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    4. Clifford Bekar & Kenneth Carlaw & Richard Lipsey, 2018. "General purpose technologies in theory, application and controversy: a review," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(5), pages 1005-1033, December.
    5. Дементьев В.Е., 2013. "Структурные Факторы Технологического Развития," Журнал Экономика и математические методы (ЭММ), Центральный Экономико-Математический Институт (ЦЭМИ), vol. 49(4), pages 33-46, октябрь.
    6. Cantner, Uwe & Vannuccini, Simone, 2021. "Pervasive technologies and industrial linkages: Modeling acquired purposes," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 386-399.
    7. Richard Lipsey, 2007. "Reflections on the general theory of second best at its golden jubilee," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(4), pages 349-364, August.
    8. Kenneth I. Carlaw & Richard G. Lipsey, 2013. "Does History Matter? Empirical Analysis of Evolutionary Versus Stationary Equilibrium Views of the Economy," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Esben Sloth Andersen (ed.), Long Term Economic Development, edition 127, pages 137-174, Springer.
    9. Richard G. Lipsey, 2017. "Economic Policy with and without Maximizing Rules," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 189-212, May.
    10. Abraham Singer, 2018. "Justice Failure: Efficiency and Equality in Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 97-115, April.
    11. Kenneth Carlaw & Richard Lipsey, 2011. "Sustained endogenous growth driven by structured and evolving general purpose technologies," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 563-593, October.
    12. Kemeny, Tom & Petralia, Sergio & Storper, Michael, 2022. "Disruptive innovation and spatial inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115953, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Fulvio Castellacci, 2010. "Structural Change And The Growth Of Industrial Sectors: Empirical Test Of A Gpt Model," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(3), pages 449-482, September.
    14. Richard G. Lipsey, 2017. "Generality Versus Context Specificity: First, Second and Third Best in Theory and Policy," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 167-177, May.
    15. Mark Knell, 2021. "The digital revolution and digitalized network society," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 9-25, April.
    16. Kapás, Judit & Czeglédi, Pál, 2008. "Technológiai és intézményi változások a munkapiacon és a vállalati szervezetben. Nyugat- és kelet-közép-európai összehasonlítás [Technological and institutional changes on the labour market and in ," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 308-332.
    17. Appio, Francesco Paolo & Martini, Antonella & Fantoni, Gualtiero, 2017. "The light and shade of knowledge recombination: Insights from a general-purpose technology," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 154-165.
    18. Richard G. Lipsey & Kenneth I. Carlaw, 2020. "INDUSTRIAL POLICIES: Common Not Rare," Discussion Papers dp20-11, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    19. Liu, Taoxiong & Liu, Zhuohao, 2022. "A growth model with endogenous technological revolutions and cycles," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    20. Charlie Blunden, 2022. "Between Market Failures and Justice Failures: Trade-Offs Between Efficiency and Equality in Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 647-660, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Technological change; Keynesian Economics; New Classical Economics; infant industries; picking winners; aggregate demand; microeconomic underpinnings.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp12-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Working Paper Coordinator (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/desfuca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.