Information Technology and Returns to Scale

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lashkari, Danial; Bauer, Arthur; Boussard, Jocelyn
• 署名单位: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - New York; Institut Polytechnique de Paris; ENSAE Paris
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 1815-1815
• 关键词: UNITED-STATES; labor share; PRODUCTIVITY; ORGANIZATION; elasticity; computers; KNOWLEDGE; decline; demand; GROWTH

摘要

What are the implications of the dramatic fall in IT prices for aggregate technology? When firm-level technologies are continuously differentiable , a factor price shock leads to ( i ) a substitution between factors and / or ( ii ) an endogenous response of returns to scale. The second channel is governed by the output elasticity of relative factor demand. Using detailed firm-level data from France , we estimate this elasticity to be positive for IT factor demand. A quantitative exercise accounting for both technological channels shows that falling IT prices can explain much of the changes in concentration and the composition of aggregate labor share in France.