Technical change, markup, divestiture, and productivity growth in the US telecommunications industry

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Nadiri, MI; Nandi, B
• 署名单位: New York University; National Bureau of Economic Research; AT&T
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/003465399558247
• 发表日期: 1999-08
• 页码: 488-498
• 关键词: equilibrium

摘要

This paper examines the sources of productivity growth for the U.S. telecommunications industry from 1935 to 1987. These years encompass both the pre- and post-AT&T divestiture periods. We formulate a structural model that accounts for both changes in the cost and the demand side of the industry. We measure the contributions of aggregate demand, information intensity of the economy, price-cost margins, relative factor prices, direct and indirect effects of technological progress, and R&D investment on total-factor productivity (TFP) growth rate. We show that TFP growth rate as conventionally measured is a seriously biased measure of rate of technical change in this industry.