Technology's contribution to economic growth and competitiveness has been the subject of vigorous debate in recent years. This book demonstrates the importance of a historical perspective in understanding the role of technological innovation in the economy. The authors examine key episodes and institutions in the development of the U.S. research system and in the development of the research systems of other industrial economies. They argue that the large potential contributions of economics to the understanding of technology and economic growth have been constrained by the narrow theoretical framework employed within neoclassical economies. A richer framework, they believe, will support a more fruitful dialogue among economists, policymakers, and managers on the organization of public and private institutions for innovation. David Mowery is Associate Professor of Business and Public Policy at the School of Business Administration, University of California, Berkeley. Nathan S. Rosenberg is Fairleigh Dickinson Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He is the author of Inside the Black Box: Technology and Economics (CUP, 1983).

Technology and the Pursuit of Economic Growth.

We explore the widespread methodology of using demand information to infer market conduct and unobserved cost components under the hypothesis of static oligopoly behavior. Direct measures of marginal cost and conduct, indicating small market power, serve as benchmarks. The more competitive models yield better cost estimates. The best cost estimates occur when conduct is estimated as a free parameter, which in turn only slightly underestimates our direct measure. It also tracks the decline in market power accompanying the industry's structural changes. The methodology is largely validated, although partial cost information can improve its predictive power. Conclusions are robust to demand function.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2555893.pdf

Testing static oligopoly models: conduct and cost in the sugar industry, 1890-1914

1. Introduction 2. Theory: instability, credible commitments, and growth 3. VPI coalitions in historical perspective: Mexico's turbulent politics, 1876-1929 4. Finance 5. Industry 6. Petroleum 7. Mining 8. Agriculture 9. Conclusion.

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The Politics of Property Rights: Political Instability, Credible Commitments, and Economic Growth in Mexico, 1876-1929

Studies in the Theory of Capital Markets.

Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution

Cuban sugar in the age of mass production

Cuban sugar in the age of mass production : technology and the economics of the sugar central, 1899-1929

Asset specificity can have profound influences on the economic structure of a country. An example is post-colonial Cuba. This article demonstrates that the existence of site specificity in assets generated problems of holdup for sugar mill owners in their contractual relations with cane suppliers. Recognition of that incentive structure offers an institutional explanation for the post-1900 concentration of U.S. investment in the eastern provinces. To reduce transaction costs, mill managers avoided investing in the western part of the island where the sugar industry was well established. A consequence was the relative decline of the western region.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/2123871

Avoiding Holdup: Asset Specificity and Technical Change in the Cuban Sugar Industry, 1899-1929

In early public land privatization, governments in New South Wales and Buenos Aires provided for de jure transfer of public lands. In New South Wales the government lost control; squatters rushed out unlawfully and seized de facto frontier claims. But in Buenos Aires privatization was accomplished by de jure transfers. Why did British settlers reject de jure transfers from a government, most able to secure property rights and rule of law, while settlers of the pampa frontier, where property-rights security was doubtful, complied with de jure transfers? We find that the revenue objective and violence on the frontier explain this puzzle.

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Alan Dye

Papers

Cuban sugar in the age of mass production

Cuban sugar in the age of mass production : technology and the economics of the sugar central, 1899-1929

Avoiding Holdup: Asset Specificity and Technical Change in the Cuban Sugar Industry, 1899-1929

The Political Economy of Land Privatization in Argentina and Australia, 1810-1850: A Puzzle

How brinkmanship saved Chadbourne: Credibility and the International Sugar Agreement of 1931☆