Schumpeterian Profits in the American Economy: Theory and Measurement / William D. Nordhaus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nordhaus, William D.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w10433.

NBER working paper series no. w10433

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Schumpeterian Profits in the American Economy

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2004.

Summary:

The present study examines the importance of Schumpeterian profits in the United States economy. Schumpeterian profits are defined as those profits that arise when firms are able to appropriate the returns from innovative activity. We first show the underlying equations for Schumpeterian profits. We then estimate the value of these profits for the non-farm business economy. We conclude that only a minuscule fraction of the social returns from technological advances over the 1948-2001 period was captured by producers, indicating that most of the benefits of technological change are passed on to consumers rather than captured by producers.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2004.