Collaborative Research: Measuring the Bias of Technological Change

当技术变革发生时，它提高了劳动力和资本等生产要素的生产率。这一增长可能与所有因素成比例，或者一个因素的生产率可能会以特别大的倍数增加。在经济学的技术语言中，技术变革可以是“要素中性”的，也可以是偏向一个要素的。采购经理人指数使用公司层面的面板数据来直接评估技术变革是偏向于劳动力还是偏向于要素中性。这一点很重要，因为研究产业经济学、生产率和经济增长的其他经济学家对技术变革的影响做出了不同的假设。这项研究为这些假设提供了经验证据。研究团队还分析了他们的数据，以确定企业研发活动如何影响特定企业的技术变革速度和方向。其结果是对研发活动和生产率增长之间的关系进行了更准确的衡量。技术变革的偏差影响着商品和服务的生产方式，并塑造了单个工作场所、公司和整个行业的演变。该项目是朝着了解技术进步的来源和由此产生的社会影响迈出的一步。

When technological change occurs, it increases the productivity of factors of production such as labor and capital. This increase could be proportionate across all the factors, or the productivity of one factor might increase by an especially large multiple. In the technical language of economics, technical change could be 'factor neutral' or it could be biased toward one factor.The PIs use firm-level panel data to directly assess whether technological change is biased towards labor or is factor neutral. This is important because other economists working in industrial economics, productivity, and economic growth have made different assumptions about the effects of technological change. This study provides empirical evidence for these assumptions.The research team also analyzes their data to determine how firm R&D activities affect the speed and direction of technological change in specific firms. The result is a more precise measure of the relationship between R&D activities and productivity growth.The bias of technological change influences how goods and services are produced and shapes the evolution of individual workplaces, firms, and entire industries. This project is a step towards understanding the sources of technological progress and the resulting societal impact.