Biased Technical Change and Economic Conservation Laws

Productivity of inputs is an important determinant of the competitiveness of firms in national and international markets. Productivity growth arises from deliberate decisions to innovate but the technological opportunities could be such that different inputs would have different rates of growth. Previous literature has mostly concentrated on labor productivity but empirical studies indicate that productivity of capital is also increasing. One of the objectives of this book is to examine the difference or bias in the productivity growth of the two inputs.

In this book, application of this general approach to study of biased technical change is developed and new empirical results presented for both macroeconomies and microeconomic firms.

An Overview.- An Overview.- Biased Technical Change.- The Stability of the Solow-Swan Model with Biased Technical Change.- A Model of Optimal Economic Growth with Endogenous Bias.- A Three Sector Model of Endogenous Hicksian Bias.- Estimation of Biased Technical Progress.- A Note on Modelling Endogenous Growth.- Technical Change and International Competition.- Economic Conservation Laws.- Optimal Economic Growth: Test of Income/Wealth Conservation Laws in OECD Countries.- Economic Conservation Laws as Indices of Corporate Performance.- Empirical Tests of the Total Value Conservation Law of the Firm.- Hartwick’s Rule and Economic Conservation Laws.

Ryuzo Sato is the C.V. Starr Professor of Economics and the director of the Center for Japan-U.S. Business and Economic Studies at the New York University Stern School of Business. In his current position, Dr. Sato teaches an MBA course in the comparative analysis of the Japanese and United States economies, an Undergraduate course ISP (International Studies Project,) and a Ph.D. level course on economic growth and technological change.

Dr. Sato has been with NYU Stern for more than 15 years. His primary areas of research interest are: economic growth, technical change, differential games, international business and United States-Japan relations.