An Intensive Exploration of Technology Diffusion

45 Pages Posted: 20 Sep 2010 Last revised: 3 Oct 2024

See all articles by Diego A. Comin

Diego A. Comin

Harvard Business School - Business, Government and the International Economy Unit

Marti Mestieri

University of Toulouse 1 - Toulouse School of Economics (TSE)

Date Written: September 2010

Abstract

We present a tractable model for the analysis of the relationship between economic growth and the intensive and extensive margins of technology adoption. At the aggregate level, our model is isomorphic to a neoclassical growth model. The microeconomic underpinnings of growth come from technology adoption of firms, both at the extensive and the intensive margin. We use a data set of 15 technologies and 166 countries to estimate the intensive and extensive margin of adoption using the structural equations derived from our model. We find that the variability across countries in the intensive margin is higher than in the extensive margin. The cross country variation in intensive margin of adoption accounts for around 40% of the variation in income per capita.

Suggested Citation

Comin, Diego A. and Mestieri, Marti, An Intensive Exploration of Technology Diffusion (September 2010). NBER Working Paper No. w16379, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1678922

Diego A. Comin (Contact Author)

Harvard Business School - Business, Government and the International Economy Unit ( email )

Cambridge
United States

Marti Mestieri

University of Toulouse 1 - Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) ( email )

Place Anatole-France
Toulouse Cedex, F-31042
France

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