The cost-quantity relations and the diverse patterns of "learning by doing" : Evidence from India

"Learning-by-doing" is usually identified as a process whereby performance increases with experience in production. The paper investigates different patterns of "learning by doing", studying learning curves at product level. Cost-quantity relationships differ a lot across products belonging to sectors with different "technological intensities". Moreover, such differential patterns are affected by firm spending on research and capital investments. Finally, our evidence suggests that "learning", or performance improvement over time is not a by-product of the mere repetition of the same production activities, as sometimes reported in previous studies, but rather it seems to be shaped by deliberate firm learning efforts and by the interactions among firms themselves.