Title: Directed technological change and productivity growth: the Italian evidence 1861-2010

Authors: Cristiano Antonelli; Federico Barbiellini Amidei; Christophe Feder

Addresses: Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica "Cognetti de Martiis", Universita di Torino & Collegio Carlo Alberto, Lungo Dora Siena, 100 A, 10124 Torino TO, Italy ' Bank of Italy, Structural Economic Analysis Directorate – Economic and Financial History Division, Via Nazionale, 191, Roma, 00184, Italy ' Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica "Cognetti de Martiis", Universita di Torino, Lungo Dora Siena, 100 A, 10124 Torino TO, Italy; Dipartimento in Scienze Economiche e Politiche, Università della Valle d'Aosta/Université de la Vallée d'Aoste, Grand Chemin, 75/77, 11020 Saint Christophe AO, Italy

Abstract: The paper presents a new methodology to identify the effects of the introduction of directed technological change on the measure of total factor productivity growth. Its application to the evidence of Italian economic growth in the years 1861-2010 confirms that technological change has been strongly directed with relevant effects on the actual levels of total factor productivity growth measured by a procedure able to account for the changes in the output elasticity of inputs and identify shift and bias effects.

Keywords: technological change; factor bias; total factor productivity; productivity growth; Italy; economic growth.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEE.2017.085001

International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics, 2017 Vol.7 No.3, pp.238 - 255

Received: 23 Apr 2015
Accepted: 07 Jan 2016
Published online: 10 Jul 2017 *

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