曼昆宏观第25章_生产及增长_经济学_高等教育_教育专区.pptVIP

* This and the following two slides cover material in an FYI box. If you wish, you can safely omit these slides without loss of continuity. Students may wonder why the technology variable (A) is multiplying the F( ) function rather than inside it. For now, tell them only inputs go inside the F( ) function. Ask them to wait until you show them the following slide, where it may be easier to see why we treat “A” differently than the other determinants of productivity. * Point out to students that we are only multiplying the INPUTS by 2. We are not multiplying the technology variable (“A”) by 2. * Why “1” is inside the production function: Students may wonder what the number “1” is doing inside the F( ) function. On the preceding slide, the aggregate production function was written as Y = A F(L, K, H, N). We multiplied all of the inputs by 1/L, and because of constant returns to scale, output is also multiplied by 1/L: Y/L = A F(L/L, K/L, H/L, N/L) The first term in the F( ) function is L/L, which just equals 1. Read literally, this equation says that output per worker depends on technology, the number of workers per worker, the amount of physical and human capital per worker, and natural resources per worker. But the number of workers per worker is always 1. Why “A” is outside the production function: What matters for productivity is not “technical knowledge per worker” but simply “technological knowledge.” Unlike physical capital or other resources, technological knowledge can be freely shared among all workers. If the number of workers increases, you must purchase new capital for the new workers (or spread the existing capital more thinly), but technological knowledge can be freely shared with the new workers. Budget about 10 minutes of class time for this activity. If you cannot afford ten minutes, delete a few of the policy choices to narrow of the focus of the discussion. Suggested instructions: Display the question and read off the