Sector size, technical change and stability in the USA (1957-2006): a Schumpeterian approach
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate two famous postulates of the Schumpeterian doctrine and its implications for the US economy.
Design/methodology/approach
Analytically, the authors investigate whether sector size matters for sectoral: technological change and stability, as expressed through the relevant quantitative measures and variables. To this end, the authors test a number of relevant models that express the various forms of this relationship. More precisely, the authors use panel data for the 14 main sectors of economic activity in the USA over the period 1957-2006, just before the first signs of the US and global recession made their appearance.
Findings
The results seem to be in line with the Schumpeterian postulate that market size matters for technological change and economic stability, for the US economy (1957-2006). Clearly, further research would be of great interest.
Originality/value
This work contributes to the literature in the following ways: first, it provides an extensive review of the literature on the subject and adopts two relevant methodological approaches. Second, based on these quantitative approaches, the paper offers a complete investigation of two famous postulates of the Schumpeterian theory for the US economy, and it is the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to do so by sector of economic activity, in a panel data framework. Third, the paper uses a wide data set (1957-2006) to examine the US economy up until the first signs of the US and global economic recession made their appearance.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Efthymios G. Tsionas for technical suggestions.
The authors would like to thank two anonymous referees and the Editor for their constructive comments. Special thanks are due to Claude Diebolt for his encouragement and support. The authors are also indebted to Marialena Chrysikou for helping them with the construction of the data set. The usual disclaimer applies.
Citation
Konstantakis, K., G. Michaelides, P. and Papageorgiou, T. (2014), "Sector size, technical change and stability in the USA (1957-2006): a Schumpeterian approach", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 41 No. 10, pp. 956-974. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-07-2013-0165
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited