Scale versus Scope in the Diffusion of New Technology: Evidence from the Farm Tractor

Daniel Gross

No 16-108, Harvard Business School Working Papers from Harvard Business School

Abstract: Using the farm tractor as a case study, I show that lags in technology diffusion arise along two distinct margins, which I term scale and scope. Though tractors are now used in nearly every agricultural field operation and in the production of nearly all crops, they first developed with much more limited application. Early diffusion was accordingly rapid in these narrower applications, but limited in scope until tractor technology generalized. The sequence of diffusion is consistent with a model of R&D in specific- versus general-purpose attributes and with other historical examples, suggesting that the key to understanding technology diffusion lies not only in explaining the number of different users, but also in explaining the number of different uses.

Keywords: Technology diffusion; Spatial technology diffusion; Farm tractors; R&D; General-purpose technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N52 O13 O32 O33 Q16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 69 pages
Date: 2016-03, Revised 2017-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-geo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Scale versus scope in the diffusion of new technology: evidence from the farm tractor (2018)
Working Paper: Scale versus Scope in the Diffusion of New Technology: Evidence from the Farm Tractor (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hbs:wpaper:16-108

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