TY  - JOUR
AU  - Gilchrist,Simon
AU  - Williams,John C.
TI  - Transition Dynamics in Vintage Capital Models: Explaining the Postwar Catch-Up of Germany and Japan
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10732
PY  - 2004
Y2  - September 2004
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10732
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10732.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Simon Gilchrist
Department of Economics
Boston University
270 Bay State Road
Boston, MA  02215
Tel: 617/353-6824
Fax: NA
E-Mail: sgilchri@bu.edu

John Williams
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Economic Research Department, MS 1130
101 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94105
Tel: (415) 974-2240
Fax: (415) 974-2168
E-Mail: john.c.williams@sf.frb.org
AB  - We consider a neoclassical interpretation of Germany and Japan's rapid postwar growth that relies on a catch-up mechanism through capital accumulation where technology is embodied in new capital goods. Using a putty-clay model of production and investment, we are able to capture many of the key empirical properties of Germany and Japan's postwar transitions, including persistently high but declining rates of labor and total-factor productivity growth, a U-shaped response of the capital-output ratio, rising rates of investment and employment, and moderate rates of return to capital.
ER  -