Learning from Experience and Learning from Others: An Exploration of Learning and Spillovers in Wartime Shipbuilding

Rebecca Achee Thornton and Peter Thompson ()

American Economic Review, 2001, vol. 91, issue 5, 1350-1368

Abstract: A new data set facilitates study of learning spillovers in World War II shipbuilding. Our results contain two principal but contrasting themes. First, learning spillovers were a significant source of productivity growth, and may have contributed more than conventional learning effects. Second, the size of the learning externalities across yards, as measured by Spence's theta, were small. These findings, which are not mutually inconsistent, suggest an optimistic view of learning spillovers: they are a significant source of productivity growth, but the market failures induced by learning externalities may be modest.

JEL-codes: D83 L62 N72 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.91.5.1350
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (134)

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