The impact of TFP growth on steady-state unemployment
Date
2007Source
International Economic ReviewVolume
48Pages
607-640Google Scholar check
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Theoretical predictions of the impact of total factor productivity (TFP) growth on unemployment are ambiguous, and depend on the extent to which new technology is embodied in new jobs. We evaluate a model with embodied and disembodied technology, capitalization, and creative destruction effects. In econometric estimates with a panel of industrial countries we find a large negative impact of TFP growth on unemployment, which implies that embodied technology and creative destruction play no role in the steady-state dynamics of unemployment. Capitalization effects explain some of the estimated impact but a part remains unexplained.