IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ver/wpaper/45-2007.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Something new under the sun. The role of new technologies in a growing economy

Author

Listed:
  • GianPaolo Mariutti

    (Department of Economics (University of Verona))

Abstract

This paper inquires into radical innovations and into their role to promote economic growth. Can an economic system grow only in quantitative terms, or the process of structural change, that underlines the emergence of new technologies, is an essential ingredient? To put it philosophically: is there something new under the sun of a growing economy or not? The paper attempts to deal with this quest both in terms of analysis and in terms of evidence. In terms of analysis, it conceptualizes the taxonomy of innovation, proposed by Chris Freeman (1994), in an input-output framework. It shows how the rate of growth will eventually peter out without the essential contribution of new sectors in the economy. In terms of evidence, it brings the case of electronics to study the impact of a new technology in changing the economic structure and the knowledge structure of the UK and US economy between the 1970s and 1990s. The changes are profound, and they may help to start explaining a sort of reverse of Solow’s paradox. Namely, computer are everywhere, now also in the statistics of the tertiary sector.

Suggested Citation

  • GianPaolo Mariutti, 2007. "Something new under the sun. The role of new technologies in a growing economy," Working Papers 45/2007, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ver:wpaper:45/2007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dse.univr.it/RePEc/ver/Wpaper/WP45.pdf
    File Function: First version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rosenberg, Nathan & Frischtak, Claudio R, 1984. "Technological Innovation and Long Waves," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(1), pages 7-24, March.
    2. D. C. Coleman, 1983. "Proto-Industrialization: A Concept Too Many," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 36(3), pages 435-448, August.
    3. J. v. Neumann, 1945. "A Model of General Economic Equilibrium," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9.
    4. Rosenberg,Nathan, 1994. "Exploring the Black Box," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521459556, September.
    5. Perez, Carlota, 1985. "Microelectronics, long waves and world structural change: New perspectives for developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 441-463, March.
    6. Pasinetti,Luigi, 1993. "Structural Economic Dynamics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521432825, October.
    7. Verdoorn, P J, 1980. "Verdoorn's Law in Retrospect: A Comment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(358), pages 382-385, June.
    8. Rondo Cameron, 1985. "A New View of European Industrialization," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 38(1), pages 1-23, February.
    9. Michael L. Wachter, 1977. "Intermediate Swings in Labor-Force Participation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 8(2), pages 545-576.
    10. Samuel Hollander, 1965. "The Sources of Increased Efficiency: A Study of DuPont Rayon Plants," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026258235x, April.
    11. Nelson, Richard R, 1981. "Research on Productivity Growth and Productivity Differences: Dead Ends and New Departures," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 1029-1064, September.
    12. Pavitt, Keith, 1984. "Sectoral patterns of technical change: Towards a taxonomy and a theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 343-373, December.
    13. Denison, Edward F, 1983. "The Interruption of Productivity Growth in the United States," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 93(369), pages 56-77, March.
    14. Anonymous, 1967. "1967 Annual Meeting Western Economic Association," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 74-74, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Giovanni Dosi & Richard Nelson, 2013. "The Evolution of Technologies: An Assessment of the State-of-the-Art," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 3(1), pages 3-46, June.
    2. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    3. Pierre J. Tremblay, 1998. "Informal Thinkering: How Is It Important?," CIRANO Working Papers 98s-13, CIRANO.
    4. Nayak, Purusottam & Mishra, SK, 2009. "Structural Change in Meghalaya: Theory and Evidence," MPRA Paper 15728, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Silva, Ester G. & Teixeira, Aurora A.C., 2008. "Surveying structural change: Seminal contributions and a bibliometric account," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 273-300, December.
    6. 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.
    7. Edward N. Wolff, 2011. "Spillovers, Linkages, and Productivity Growth in the US Economy, 1958 to 2007," NBER Working Papers 16864, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Stolpe, Michael, 1995. "Technology and the dynamics of specialization in open economies," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 738, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    9. Yoann Verger, 2015. "Sraffa and ecological economics: review of the literature," Working Papers hal-01182894, HAL.
    10. Binz, Christian & Gosens, Jorrit & Hansen, Teis & Hansen, Ulrich Elmer, 2017. "Toward Technology-Sensitive Catching-Up Policies: Insights from Renewable Energy in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 418-437.
    11. M. Ishaq Nadiri, 1993. "Innovations and Technological Spillovers," NBER Working Papers 4423, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Giovanni Dosi & Federico Riccio & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2022. "Specialize or diversify? And in What? Trade composition, quality of specialization, and persistent growth [Catching up, forging ahead, and falling behind]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 31(2), pages 301-337.
    13. Freeman, Christopher & Soete, Luc, 2009. "Developing science, technology and innovation indicators: What we can learn from the past," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 583-589, May.
    14. Andrea Bonaccorsi, 2011. "A Functional Theory of Technology and Technological Change," Chapters, in: Cristiano Antonelli (ed.), Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Wintjes, R. & Douglas, D. & Fairburn, J. & Hollanders, H. & Pugh, G., 2014. "Beyond product innovation; improving innovation policy support for SMEs in traditional industries," MERIT Working Papers 2014-032, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    16. Loet Leydesdorff, 2012. "The Triple Helix, Quadruple Helix, …, and an N-Tuple of Helices: Explanatory Models for Analyzing the Knowledge-Based Economy?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 3(1), pages 25-35, March.
    17. Giulio Bottazzi & Giovanni Dosi & Nadia Jacoby & Angelo Secchi & Federico Tamagni, 2010. "Corporate performances and market selection: some comparative evidence," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(6), pages 1953-1996, December.
    18. Carolina Castaldi & Alessandro Nuvolari, 2004. "Technological Revolutions and Economic Growth: The “Age of Steam” Reconsidered," LEM Papers Series 2004/11, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    19. Montresor, Sandro & Vezzani, Antonio, 2015. "The production function of top R&D investors: Accounting for size and sector heterogeneity with quantile estimations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 381-393.
    20. Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "Structural Change and Innovation in Developing Economies: A Way Out of the Middle Income Trap ?," LEM Papers Series 2015/09, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    radical innovations; structural change; productivity; economic growth; new sectors.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

    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:ver:wpaper:45/2007. 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: Michael Reiter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/isverit.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.