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BIASED TECHNICAL CHANGE, INTERMEDIATE GOODS, AND TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2011

Alessio Moro
Alessio Moro*
Affiliation:
University of Cagliari
*
Address correspondence to: Alessio Moro, Department of Economics, University of Cagliari, Viale Sant'Ignazio 17, 09123 Cagliari, Italy; e-mail: amoro@unica.it.
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Abstract

In this paper I show that the intensity at which intermediate goods are used in the production process affects aggregate total factor productivity (TFP). To do this, I construct an input–output model economy in which firms produce gross output by means of a production function in capital, labor, and intermediate goods. This production function is subject, together with the standard neutral technical change, to intermediates-biased technical change. Positive (negative) intermediates-biased technical change implies a decline (increase) in the elasticity of gross output with respect to intermediate goods. In equilibrium, this elasticity appears as an explicit part of TFP in the value added aggregate production function. In particular, when the elasticity of gross output with respect to intermediates increases, aggregate TFP declines. I use the model to quantify the impact of intermediates-biased technical change for measured TFP growth in Italy. The exercise shows that intermediates-biased technical change can account for the productivity slowdown observed in Italy from 1994 to 2004.

Keywords

Total Factor ProductivityGrowthBiased Technical ChangeIntermediate Goods
Type
Articles
Information
Macroeconomic Dynamics , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 184 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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