题目：Energy Saving Technical Change

主讲人：John Hassler, Professor, IIES University of Stockholm

Abstract

Using an aggregate production function which has constant elasticity of substitution between two inputs - energy, on the one hand, and a capital-labor composite, on the other – one can define two specific technology series: one that is energy-saving, and another which saves on capital and labor. Based on U.S. data and an estimate of the elasticity between the two input groups one can measure these two aggregate technology series, and it turns out that they display a negative medium-run correlation. We interpret this as evidence for “directed technical change“, i.e., that the total resources devoted to saving on these inputs responds endogenously to incentives; for example, the measured rise in the growth rate of energy-saving technical change appears to be a response to the oil-price shocks in the 1970s.