Technological Change and the Scale of Production

Many manufacturing industries, including the computer industry, have seen large increases in productivity growth rates and have experienced a reduction in average establishment size. A vintage capital model is introduced which can account for this fact. It is shown that a rise in the rate of technological change decreases average plant size, that is, the level of innovation affects fim soze. Smaller plants are not more innovative, as has been suggested, but indutries with more innovation, as measured by productivity growth, have smaller plants. (Copyright: Elsevier)