PRODUCTIVITY AND THE EMBODIMENT OF TECHNICAL PROGRESS

This survey of the issues involved in the embodiment hypothesis, that technical change and productivity can be explained by changes in the quality of inputs into the production process, treats the interrelationships of technical change and productivity, presents some empirical findings on this subject, and discusses some fundamental issues in further studies of embodiment. Topics covered include the nature of the embodiment hypothesis, the vintage model of capital and embodiment in other inputs, the use of the embodiment hypothesis to study productivity trends, the embodiment hypothesis and the productivity slowdown in the 1970s and 1980s, and potential future applications of the embodiment hypothesis.