Contributions

  • Prescott, Edward C. - Contributor
  • National Bureau of Economic Research. - Contributor

Publication

2007 - National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Mass, Massachusetts

Language

English

Word Count

8,250 words, Guess

Page Count

33 pages

Identifiers

Description

A framework is developed with what we call technology capital. A country is a measure of locations. Absent policy constraints, a firm owning a unit of technology capital can produce the composite output good using the unit of technology capital at as many locations as it chooses. But it can operate only one operation at a given location, so the number of locations is what constrains the number of units it operates using this unit of technology capital. If it has two units of technology capital, it can operate twice as many operations at every location. In this paper, aggregation is carried out and the aggregate production functions for the countries are derived. Our framework interacts well with the national accounts in the same way as does the neoclassical growth model. It also interacts well with the international accounts. There are constant returns to scale, and therefore no monopoly rents. Yet there are gains to being economically integrated. In the framework, a country's openness is measured by the effect of its policies on the productivity of foreign operations. Our analysis indicates that there are large gains to this openness.

Description

In this paper, we extend the growth model to include firm-specific technology capital and use it to assess the gains from opening to foreign direct investment. A firm's technology capital is its unique know-how from investing in research and development, brands, and organization capital. What distinguishes technology capital from other forms of capital is the fact that a firm can use it simultaneously in multiple domestic and foreign locations. Foreign technology capital is exploited by permitting foreign direct investment by multinationals. In both steady-state and transitional analyses, the extended growth model predicts large gains to being open.

Subjects

Series Statement

  • NBER working paper series -- no. 13515.
  • Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 13515.

Links

Other Editions

  • Openness, technology capital, and developmentNational Bureau of Economic Research2007-01-01

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