Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/88240 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
Papers on Economics and Evolution No. 0412
Publisher: 
Max Planck Institute for Research into Economic Systems, Jena
Abstract: 
This paper analyzes how the qualitative change in human labor occurs in mutual dependence with the advancement of the epistemic base of technology. Historically, a recurrent pattern can be identified: humans learned to successively transfer labor qualities to machines. The subsequent release of parts of the workforce from performing this labor enabled them to spend this spare time in the search for further technical innovations, i.e., the generation and application of ever-more knowledge. A model examines the autocatalytic relationship between the production of commodities and knowledge. The driving forces of these processes and the mechanisms that limit them are analyzed.
Subjects: 
technological change
long-term economic development
production
productivity growth
labor market
JEL: 
E23
J24
N30
O30
O40
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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