Baustelle Digitalisierung

Article for general public (2018)

Technological Progress, the Supply ofHours Worked, and the Consumption-Leisure Complementarity

Scientific Conference (2018)

At least since 1870 hours worked per worker declined and real wages increased in many of today’s industrialized countries. The dual nature of technological progress in conjunction with a consumption ... [more ▼]

At least since 1870 hours worked per worker declined and real wages increased in many of today’s industrialized countries. The dual nature of technological progress in conjunction with a consumption-leisure complementarity explains these stylized facts. Technological progress drives real wages up and expands the amount of available consumption goods. Enjoying consumption goods increases the value of leisure. Therefore, individuals demand more leisure and supply less labor. This mechanism appears in an OLG-model with two-period lived individuals equipped with per-period utility functions of the generalized log-log type proposed by Boppart-Krusell (2016). The optimal plan is piecewise defined and hinges on the wage level. Technological progress moves a poor economy out of a regime with low wages and an inelastic supply of hours worked into a regime where wages increase further and hours worked continuously decline. [less ▲]

TASKS, TECHNOLOGY, AND FACTOR PRICES IN THE NEOCLASSICAL PRODUCTION SECTOR

E-print/Working paper (2018)

This paper introduces tasks into the neoclassical production sector. Competitive firms choose the profit-maximizing amounts of factor-specific tasks that determine their factor demands and output supplies ... [more ▼]

This paper introduces tasks into the neoclassical production sector. Competitive firms choose the profit-maximizing amounts of factor-specific tasks that determine their factor demands and output supplies. We show that the effect of factor-augmenting technical change on relative and absolute factor prices can be decomposed into a productivity effect and a market size effect of opposite sign. These effects appear since the novel task-based approach distinguishes between the demands for tasks and the demands for factors. This perspective provides a new intuition for the emergence of relative and absolute factor biases and the role of the elasticity of substitution. [less ▲]

Technological Progress, the Supply ofHours Worked, and the Consumption-Leisure Complementarity

Presentation (2018)

Der Klimawandel und die Wirtschaft - US Ökonomen William Nordhaus und Paul Romer teilen sich den Nobelpreis

Article for general public (2018)

A Generalized Steady-State Growth Theorem

in Macroeconomic Dynamics (2018)

Is there an economic justification for why technical change is by assumption <br />labor-augmenting in Dynamic Macroeconomics? The literature on the <br />endogenous choice of capital- and labor ... [more ▼]

Is there an economic justification for why technical change is by assumption <br />labor-augmenting in Dynamic Macroeconomics? The literature on the <br />endogenous choice of capital- and labor-augmenting technical change finds that <br />technical change is purely labor-augmenting in steady state. The present paper <br />shows that this finding is mainly an artefact of the underlying mathematical models. <br />To make this point Uzawa’s steady-state growth theorem (Uzawa (1961)) is <br />generalized to a neoclassical economy that, besides consumption and capital accumulation, <br />uses current output to create technical progress or to manufacture <br />intermediates. The generalized steady-state growth theorem is shown to encompass <br />four models of endogenous capital- and labor-augmenting technical change, <br />namely, Irmen and Tabakovic (2015), Acemoglu (2003), Acemoglu (2009), Chapter <br />15, and the typical model of the induced innovations literature of the 1960s. [less ▲]

Economic Growth: Past, Present, and Future

Speeches/Talks (2017)

Warum Wirtschaftswachstum gut sein kann

Article for general public (2017)

Technological progress, the supply of hours worked, and the consumption-leisure complementarity

E-print/Working paper (2017)

At least since 1870 hours worked per worker declined and real wages increased in many of today’s industrialized countries. The dual nature of technological progress in conjunction with a consumption ... [more ▼]

At least since 1870 hours worked per worker declined and real wages increased in many of today’s industrialized countries. The dual nature of technological progress in conjunction with a consumption-leisure complementarity explains these stylized facts. Technological progress drives real wages up and expands the amount of available con- sumption goods. Enjoying consumption goods increases the value of leisure. Therefore, individuals demand more leisure and supply less labor. This mechanism appears in an OLG-model with two-period lived individuals equipped with per-period utility func- tions of the generalized log-log type proposed by Boppart-Krusell (2016). The optimal plan is piecewise defined and hinges on the wage level. Technological progress moves a poor economy out of a regime with low wages and an inelastic supply of hours worked into a regime where wages increase further and hours worked continuously decline. [less ▲]

Endogenous Factor Income Distribution - When Piketty meets Romer -

Speeches/Talks (2017)