Toward an Understanding of Learning by Doing: Evidence from an Automobile Assembly Plant

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Levitt, Steven D.; List, John A.; Syverson, Chad
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/671137
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 643-681
• 关键词: productivity; incentives; KNOWLEDGE; acquisition; COMPETITION; experience; industry; CURVES; cost

摘要

We investigate learning by doing using detailed data from a major auto producer''s assembly plant. We focus on the acquisition, aggregation, transmission, and embodiment of the knowledge stock built through learning. We find that most knowledge was not retained by plant workers despite their importance as a learning conduit. This is consistent with the plant''s systems for productivity measurement and improvement. We further explore how learning at the hundreds of processes along the production line undergirds plantwide productivity. Our results shed light on how productivity gains accrue at the plant level and how firms apply managerial inputs to expand production.