The Production Recipes Approach to Modeling Technological Innovation: An Application to Learning by Doing

62 Pages Posted: 26 Aug 2009 Last revised: 1 Jun 2015

See all articles by Philip E. Auerswald

Philip E. Auerswald

George Mason University - Schar School of Government and Policy

Stuart Kauffman

BiosGroup

José Lobo

Arizona State University (ASU)

Karl Shell

Cornell University - Department of Economics

Date Written: September 1, 1998

Abstract

We do two things in this paper. First, we put forward some elements of a microeconomic theory of technological evolution. This involves adding nascent (essentially undiscovered) technologies to the existing technologies of neoclassical production theory, and, more importantly, expanding the notion of the production plan to include the recipe - the complete description of the underlying engineering process. Second, we use the recipes approach in constructing a simple microeconomic model of shop-floor learning by doing. We simulate the dynamics of the model and report the effects of changes in the basic parameters on the resulting engineering experience curves. For correctly chosen values of these parameters, the predictions of the model match the observed experience curves.

Keywords: engineering experience curves, learning by doing, learning curves, NK model, organizational learning, production recipes, technological evolution

JEL Classification: D20, D21, D24, D83, L23, O30

Suggested Citation

Auerswald, Philip Edgar and Kauffman, Stuart and Lobo, Jose and Shell, Karl, The Production Recipes Approach to Modeling Technological Innovation: An Application to Learning by Doing (September 1, 1998). Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Vol. 24, 2000, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1461801

Philip Edgar Auerswald (Contact Author)

George Mason University - Schar School of Government and Policy ( email )

3351 Fairfax Dr.
Arlington, VA 22201
United States

HOME PAGE: http://auerswald.org

Stuart Kauffman

BiosGroup ( email )

317 Pasco de Peralta
Sante Fe, NM 87501
United States

Jose Lobo

Arizona State University (ASU) ( email )

Farmer Building 440G PO Box 872011
Tempe, AZ 85287
United States

Karl Shell

Cornell University - Department of Economics ( email )

414 Uris Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-7601
United States
607-255-5277 (Phone)
607-255-8838 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.karlshell.com

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