TY  - JOUR
AU  - Morrison,Catherine J.
AU  - Berndt,Ernst R.
TI  - Assessing the Productivity of Information Technology Equipment in U.S.  Manufacturing Industries
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 3582
PY  - 1991
Y2  - January 1991
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3582
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3582.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Catherine J. Morrison
Department of Agricultural Economics
UC, Davis
Davis, CA  95616
Tel: 617/381-3560
E-Mail: no email available

Ernst R. Berndt
MIT Sloan School of Management
100 Main Street, E62-518
Cambridge, MA 02142
Tel: 617/253-2665
Fax: 617-227-0880
E-Mail: eberndt@mit.edu
AB  - In this paper we report results of an empirical assessment of the cost reducing impacts of recent dramatic increases in stocks of "high-tech" office and information technology equipment (0) using annual data from various two digit US manufacturing industries over the 1952-1986 time period. While there are exceptions, on balance we find that in 1986, estimated marginal benefits of investments in this 0 equipment are less than marginal costs, implying over investment in 0 capital in 1986. The sign of the estimated elasticity of demand for labor with respect to changes in the stock of 0 capital is evenly divided in the fourteen industries, but whether positive or negative, in all industries this elasticity increases in absolute magnitude over time, indicating ever greater impacts of 0 capital on the demand for aggregate labor. Finally, our estimates of the elasticity of technical progress with respect to 0-capital are very small in magnitude implying that increases in o capital have only a small impact on technical progress.
ER  -