Learning from "Learning by Doing": Lessons for Economic Growth (Kenneth J Arrow Lectures)

Solow, Robert M.

ISBN 10: 0804728410 / ISBN 13: 9780804728416

Published by Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1997

About this Item

94 pp., vii. Stated: "Original printing 1997" with '97' and '01' in number line. Following Preface, Contents divided into 4 Lectures: (1) "Learning by Doing in the Context of Growth Theory"; (2) "Combining Innovation and Continuous Improvement"; (3) "Variations and Simulations"; (4) "Policies for Economic Growth"; Bibliographical Note, pp. 93-94. Glossy white wrappers with cursive gold lettering in background, covering full front cover, with black 1 1/2" Title box superimposed across lower middle front cover for lettering in white; Author name lettering in white over thin 1/2" black strip, just below lower middle.(NO previous owner names. NO remainder marks.) FLAWLESS. UNREAD.

Seller Inventory # 002675

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Learning from "Learning by Doing": Lessons for Economic Growth (Kenneth J Arrow Lectures)
• Publisher: Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804728410
• ISBN 13: 9780804728416
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: As New

About this title

Synopsis

This book by a Nobel laureate in economics begins with a brief exposition of Kenneth J. Arrow's classic paper "The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing" (1962). It shows how Arrow's idea fits into the modern theory of economic growth, and uses it as a springboard for a critical consideration of spectacular recent developments that have made growth theory a dynamic topic today.

The author then develops a new theory that combines learning by doing (identifying it with the concept of "continuous improvement") with a separate process of discrete "innovations." Learning by doing leads to a fairly smooth reduction in labor required per unit of output, tied to the rate of gross investment in new capital equipment. Innovations arrive at random; when one of them happens, the labor requirement takes a jump downward.

This new model, simple as it is, does not lend itself to self-contained solution. The author accordingly presents the results of a series of computer simulations that exhibit the variety of paths the new model economy can follow, showing, among other things, that early good luck can have a persistent effect. The book concludes with some general reflections on policies for economic growth, drawn not from any one modeling exercise but from general experience with a variety of growth models.

Of the four chapters of this book, the first two were presented as the Kenneth J. Arrow Lectures at Stanford University in 1993. The computer simulations were specially done for inclusion in this book. The final chapter on policies for economic growth was first presented as the Ernest Sturc Lecture at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington in 1991.

About the Author

Robert M. Solow is Emeritus Institute Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of several books, most recently A Critical Essay in Modern Macroeconomic Theory (with F. Hahn).