Search results for "Technical change"

Comparing the dynamic performance of wastewater treatment systems: A metafrontier Malmquist productivity index approach

2015

The assessment of productivity change of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is essential to improve the performance over time of the facilities evaluated. This study assessed and compared the productivity growth of WWTPs operating with non-homogeneous technologies. The metafrontier Malmquist productivity index (MMPI) was computed for a sample of 99 WWTPs encompassing 4 alternative technologies: activated sludge (AS), aerated lagoon (AL), trickling filter (TF) and rotating biological contactor (BD). The results indicated that, on average, WWTPs with AS and BD exhibited better performance over time than WWTPs with AL and TF. The MMPI indicates that, over the period 2007-2009, the productivit…

Water company productivity change: A disaggregated approach accounting for changes in inputs and outputs

2021

Abstract The assessment of the productivity change of water utilities provides essential information to sector managers and regulators. This study uses the Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen Productivity Indicator (LHMPI) to evaluate productivity change as it can be further decomposed into three components namely technical change (TC), technical efficiency change (TEC), and scale efficiency change (SEC). This study evaluates the productivity of several water companies in England and Wales from 2001 to 2018. We found that productivity declined 1.2% per year due to the use of inputs that increased by 1.4% per year relative to outputs that increased by 0.2% per year.

The Contribution of Technological Change on EU's Exports

2013

Abstract The competitiveness of European countries is a constant concern in an environment dominated by the globalization of markets. Export competitiveness is an important dimension of a country's competitiveness. On top of that, in support to competitiveness, innovation is considered as a strong variable according to the Schumpeterian framework. This paper explores the relationship between technological change and international trade according to the OECD technological classification and the United Nations International System of Industrial Classification third revision for the 2 and 3 digit divisions of the manufacturing sector industry. An exploratory analysis is carried out on four Eur…

The Contribution of Technological Change on EU’s Exports Performance

2013

Deskilling and decline in skill premium during the age of sail : Swedish and Finnish seamen, 1751–1913

2016

The study examines the evolution of skill premium and share at industry level in shipping during the age of sail. We argue that the period from the 1750s to the 1910s represented deskilling for the seamen working in sailing ships. The growth of international trade and shipping during the first era of globalization increased the overall demand for sailors but decreased the relative demand for skilled labor in favor of less skilled ones. This deskilling was associated with a decline in wage inequality, as the premium for high skilled seamen fell relative to mean wages in the shipping industry. The decline in skill premium may have facilitated the growth of trade and shipping, as the relative …

Technology Diffusion, Worker Mobility and the Returns to Skill

2015

In this paper I illustrate how the diffusion across firms of a skill-neutral technology leads to a skill-biased impact on the economy. The model identifies (i) differences in inter-firm mobility between skill groups, (ii) productivity dispersion across firms within industries, and (iii) differences in wages between small and large firms as key determinants of the skill premium. Calibrated to match differences in inter-firm mobility between skill groups and rising productivity dispersion across firms, the model ascribes one-third of the sharp increase in the skill premium in U.S. manufacturing from 1977 to 1997 to skill-neutral technical progress and the technology diffusion process itself. …

Conocimiento, traza e ingenio en la arquitectura valenciana del siglo XV

2012

In the last decades historiography of gothic architecture in the Crown of Aragon has focused on buildings monographs, documentary research and technical change in stone building. On the other hand, historians of technology have given special attention to the issue of innovation and its diffusion in the late Middle Ages, considering building techniques as a particular field of research. This essay studies transmission of technical knowledge in building trades in order to explain architectural changes in an outstanding environment of innovation such as the kingdom of Valencia in the 14th and 15th centuries, especially from 1430 onwards. Having account of previous research and some cases of st…