Energy-Saving Technical Change

John Hassler and Conny Olovsson
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Per Krusell

No 9177, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We estimate an aggregate production function with constant elasticity of substitution between energy and a capital/labor composite using U.S. data. The implied measure of energy-saving technical change appears to respond strongly to the oil-price shocks in the 1970s and has a negative medium-run correlation with capital/labor-saving technical change. Our findings are suggestive of a model of directed technical change, with low short-run substitutability between energy and capital/labor but significant substitutability over longer periods through technical change. We construct such a model, calibrate it based on the historical data, and use it to discuss possibilities for the future.

Keywords: Directed technical change; Energy saving (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E0 O3 Q32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (112)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP9177 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Energy-Saving Technical Change (2015)
Working Paper: Energy-saving technical change (2015)
Working Paper: Energy-Saving Technical Change (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9177

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP9177

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CEPR ().