Term 2

Module lecturer

PAUL STONEMAN, Warwick Business School
This module is a one term module offered in the second term for the 2004/2005 academic year.

Aims

The objective of this module is to provide an introduction to the burgeoning literature on the economics of technological change and in certain areas to take students to the boundaries of that literature.

Learning outcomes

Students successfully completing the module will have both acquired a wider body of relevant knowledge and also developed the capability to apply economic analysis to positive and normative issues in the area of technological change.

Contents

This module will cover both positive and normative aspects of the economics of technological change, using both theoretical and empirical approaches. The module will explore how economics has and can be used to address issues relating to the generation, introduction and impacts of new technologies and the resulting policy implications. Specific topics to be covered include, research and development, patents, innovation, the diffusion of new technology, standards and compatibility, the micro and macro modelling of the impacts of new technology, the theory of technology policy and the practice of technology policy.

Organisation

The module course will be delivered through eight two hour meetings, the first of which will be an introductory lecture with the rest being discussion sessions centred around presentations by students of their main findings from readings of pre allocated papers and books.

Pre-requisites

A basic knowledge of macroeconomics, microeconomics, elementary mathematical methods and basic econometrics.

Key readings

P. Stoneman (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1995

Assessment

The module is examined by a single 2 hour exam in May and carrying a weight of 100%.