Savoirs ENS

Energy and Directed Technological Change: Lessons from Economic History

mercredi 27 avril 2016

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Descriptif

Exposé de David Stern dans le cadre du séminaire Modélisation de la transition écologique de la Chaire énergie et prospérité.

The theory of directed technological change introduced by Acemoglu explains the direction of technological change as a function of the relative scarcity of the factors of production and the elasticity of substitution between them. I apply this theory to two historical examples to show the implications for energy and the economy: The Industrial Revolution in Britain and the transition to modern economic growth in Sweden. In Britain, wood and coal were good substitutes and a relative increase in the scarcity of wood encouraged coal-using innovation. Labor and energy are relatively poor substitutes. Increasing abundance of energy appears to have encouraged a shift from energy-augmenting to labor-augmenting technological change. I test this idea using data from the last two centuries in Sweden. The implications for the role of innovation in current energy and climate policy will be discussed.