This article discusses the economic meaning of the term technological change.

A technological change is a term that is used in economics to describe a change in the set of feasible production possibilities.

A neutral technological change refers to the behaviour of technological change in models. A technological innovation is Hicks neutral (following Hicks (1932)) if the ratio of capital's marginal product to labour's marginal product is unchanged for a given capital to labour ratio. A technological innovation is Harrod neutral (following Hicks (1932)) if the technology is labour-augmenting (i.e. helps labor); it is Solow neutral if the technology is capital-augmenting (i.e. helps capital).

To economists technological change is different from a technical change.

More information on the economic view of technological change can be found in the reference by Jones given below. Mansfield has an old but readable section on technological change as well.

Other views of technological change include Thomas Kuhn's sociological view of scientists working within paradigms and even the concept of memes as proposed by Richard Dawkins. Short summaries of these and other views plus references and suggested reading can be found in Chapter 14 and in the reference section of ^*.

References

• Jones, Charles I. Introduction to Economic Growth (W.W. Norton)
• Mansfield, Edwin Microeconomics Theory and Applications (W.W. Norton)
• Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (University of Chicago Press)
• Dawkins, Richard The Selfish Gene, (Oxford University Press)

See also

• Technological singularity

Production