TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jovanovic,Boyan
AU  - Stolyarov,Dmitriy
TI  - Learning, Complementarities, and Asynchronous Use of Technology
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5870
PY  - 1997
Y2  - January 1997
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5870
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5870.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Boyan Jovanovic
New York University
Department of Economics
19 W. 4th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY  10012
Tel: 212/998-8953
Fax: 212/995-4186
E-Mail: Boyan.Jovanovic@nyu.edu

Dmitriy Stolyarov
University of Michigan
Department of Economics
611 Tappan Ave, Room 238
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220
Tel: 734-647-5609
Fax: 734-764-2769
E-Mail: stolyar@umich.edu
AB  - This paper deals with processes that require several complementary inputs subject to improvements in quality.  If after a quality upgrade one of these inputs requires a period of learning before it can be used effectively, then in general it will pay to purchase the inputs at different dates -- the purchases will be asynchronous.  That is so because it is wasteful to tie up funds in the other inputs which will be underutilized until the date learning is over. We provide evidence that technology has been used asynchronously in the automobile industry, in the television broadcasting industry, in electricity supply, and in railways, and we argue that our model helps explain this evidence.
ER  -