The Economics Of Technological Diffusion

This book presents a detailed overview of the economics of technological diffusion in all its various dimensions. Topics covered include: Game-theoretic approaches to the modelling of technological change Finance and technological change Technological change in international trade.

This book deals with two key aspects of the history of steam engines, a cornerstone of the Industrial Revolution, specifically the road that led to its discovery and the process of diffusion of the early steam engines. The first part of the volume outlines the technological and scientific developments which took place between the 16th and 18th centuries, proving critical for the invention of this strategic technology. The most important question addressed is why did England come up with this innovation first as opposed to other countries (e.g., France, Italy), which were more advanced in terms of knowledge pertinent to it. The second part of the volume traces the process of diffusion of the early steam engines, the Newcomen model, through to 1773, the year prior to the first commercial application of the second generation of steam engines (the Watt model). The process of diffusion is quantified on the basis of a novel method before proceeding with a discussion of the main determinants of this process. Kitsikopoulos pulls together a large amount of relevant evidence found in primary sources and more technically oriented literature which is often ignored by economic historians. This book will be of interest to economic historians and historians of technology.

Technology has long been seen as a path to economic growth. However there is considerable debate about the exact nature of this relationship. Economics of Structural and Technological Change employs a wide range of theoretical and applied approaches to explore the concept of technological change. The book begins with a series of in-depth discussions of the economic analysis of technological change. The second section contains a discussion of theoretical models of technological change, focusing on issues such as time and innovation. The third section brings together a number of applied analyses of technological change and examines the effect of factors such as human resource constraints, patenting and science and technology indicators.

This important book is about the origins and diffusion of innovation, in theory and in practice. The practice draws on a variety of industries, from electronics to eyewear, from furniture to mechatronics, in a range of economies including Europe, USA and China.

Published in 1982 this is an introductory study of the international spread of modern industrial technology. The book considers the preconditions necessary for a country to adopt effectively modern industrial technology in the nineteenth century and the mechanisms by which this technology spread from one country to another. A global view is adopted and thus the book supplements others which are concerned with the industrial developmet of individual countries during the same period. It will be invaluable to anyone seeking an understanding of the early history of capitalism.

The extent to which firms can react creatively to rather than adjust passively against new techniques and practices is dependent on their command of technological knowledge and relative competence. This book explores the characteristics of the path dependent dynamics of localized technological change, demonstrating how the economics of complexity can inform our understanding of the economics of innovation and vice versa. The book is structured in three parts: part one focuses on the ingredients of the economics of localized technological change, focusing on the legacies of the key economists and a critical assessment. Part two explores the governance of the generation, dissemination, use and exploitation of localized technological knowledge. Part three elaborates on the basic dynamic mechanisms of localized technological change, combining theory with specific empirical models. The final perspectives articulate the relations between the economics of localized technological change, the economics of path dependence and the challenge of the emerging economics of complexity.

How important is foreign knowledge for domestic innovation outcomes? How is this relation shaped by globalization and the attendant intensification of international competition? Our empirical approach extends the previous literature by analyzing a large panel comprising industries in both advanced and emerging economies over the past two decades. We find that barriers to the domestic diffusion of foreign knowledge have fallen significantly for emerging economies. For all countries, and especially for emerging economies, inflows of foreign knowledge have a growing and quantitatively important impact on domestic innovation. Controlling for the amount of domestic R&D, we find evidence that increases in international competitive pressure at the industry level had a positive effect on domestic innovation outcomes

This Festschrift explores the truly exceptional breadth and depth of Paul David s work, focusing upon his contributions to the topics of path dependence, the economics of knowledge, and the diffusion of technology. The book consists of 15 papers plus an introduction by the editors and an entertaining postscript by Dominique Foray. . . For economic historians, the papers on path dependence assembled in this book, and particularly the conceptual paper by Antonelli, should be essential reading. Nikolaus Wolf, Economic History Review Recent research on the economics of innovation has acknowledged the importance of path dependence and networks in the evolution of economies and the diffusion of new techniques, products, and processes. These are topics pioneered by Paul A. David, one of the world s leading scholars in the economics of innovation. This outstanding collection provides a fitting tribute to the diversity and depth of Paul David s contributions. The papers included range from simulation models of the evolution of market structure in the presence of innovation, through historical investigations of knowledge networks and empirical analysis of contemporary networks, to the analysis of the diffusion of innovations using simulation and analytic models and of the diffusion of knowledge using patent data. With an emphasis on simulation models, data analysis, and historical evidence, this book will be required reading for researchers in innovation economics and regional development as well as economists, sociologists, and historians of innovation and intellectual property.