Abstract

Ever since computers were introduced to the workplace, their prevalence has grown, and at initial glance can be pointed to as one of the main reasons for recent productivity growth within the United States. Having said that, new technology that is developed takes time diffuse properly into the workplace, leading to the question of how impactful new technology is on productivity growth, when companies are hesitant to buy up the newest of technology. This paper augments a Cobb-Douglas production function to account for innovation in semiconductors and associated technologies as a factor of productivity, and uses data collected from 1992 to 2020 to estimate the impacts the price of semiconductors as well as the amount of investment put in to innovating on technology has on productivity. The results of this paper point towards the prices of semiconductors having a negative relationship with productivity, while the level of investment has a positive correlation, although the data contains issues of multicollinearity and serial correlation.

Advisor

Burnell, James

Department

Business Economics

Disciplines

Business Analytics

Keywords

Moore's Law, Innovation, Productivity

Publication Date

2023

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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