现代经济学第十四章.ppt

* You might also add that technological knowledge can easily be shared among infinitely many producers. Human capital is generally tied to the individuals that expend the effort to acquire it. For example, if someone discovers a more cost-effective way to manufacture cars, this knowledge can be shared with all auto manufacturers, causing a general increase in productivity in the auto sector. If someone acquires some skills or experience that enable him or her to do his or her job better, then his productivity rises, but not that of all persons in his occupation. * 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 simp