Lobbies and Technology Diffusion / Diego Comin, Bart Hobijn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Comin, Diego.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Hobijn, Bart.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w11022.

NBER working paper series no. w11022

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2005.

Summary:

This paper explores whether lobbies slow down technology diffusion. To answer this question, we exploit the differential effect of various institutional attributes that should affect the costs of erecting barriers when the new technology has a technologically close predecessor but not otherwise. We implement this test in a unique dataset compiled by us that covers the diffusion of 20 technologies for 23 countries over the past two centuries. We find that each of the relevant institutional variables that affect the costs of erecting barriers has a significantly larger effect on the diffusion of technologies with a competing predecessor technology than when no such a technology exists. These effects are quantitatively important. Thus, we conclude that lobbies are an important barrier to technology adoption and to development.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2005.