Working Paper: NBER ID: w11928
Authors: Diego Comin; Bart Hobijn; Emilie Rovito
Abstract: This paper presents a new data set on the diffusion of about 115 technologies in over 150 countries over the last 200 years. We use this comprehensive data set to uncover general patterns of technology diffusion. Our main 5 findings are as follows: (i) Once the intensive margin is measured, technologies do not diffuse in a logistic way. (ii) Within a typical technology, the dispersion in the adoption levels across countries is about 5 times larger than the cross-country dispersion in income per capita. (iii) The rankings of countries by level of technology adoption are very highly correlated across technologies. (iv) Within a typical technology, there has been convergence at an average rate of 4 percent per year. (v) The speed of convergence for technologies developed since 1925 has been three times higher than the speed of convergence for technologies developed before 1925.
Keywords: technology diffusion; economic development; technology adoption
JEL Codes: O33; O47; O57
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| technology diffusion (O33) | economic development (O29) |
| intensive margin measured (C24) | technology diffusion not logistic (O33) |
| dispersion in adoption levels (D39) | dispersion in income per capita (D31) |
| rankings of countries by technology adoption (O57) | correlation across technologies (C10) |
| convergence in technology adoption levels (O47) | average speed of convergence 4 percent per year (O47) |
| technologies developed since 1925 (B20) | speed of convergence three times higher (C69) |