Competitions among different ways of doing a particular task
often end with a single technique dominating the market. In fact,
this dominance often takes the form of a single technique being
the only one used. Competitions among video cassetter recorder
technologies, computer operating systems, automobile technologies
(internal combustion, steam and electric) are all examples of
technology competitions. The outcomes of these competitions are
often driven by increasing returns to adoption--as a technology
becomes more common, the net payoffs to using it increase.
Some Papers
Cowan, Robin and John H. Miller, "Technological
Standards with Local Externalities and Decentralized Behaviour"
Journal of Evolutionary Economics, vol 8(3), pp. 285-96, 1998.
Cowan, Robin. "Nuclear Power Reactors:
A Study of Technological Lock-In" Journal of Economic
History, vol. 50, Sept, 1990 pp.541-566.
The html version is missing the footnotes. This is available through
JSTOR here.
Cowan, Robin. "High Technology
and the Economics of Standardization" in M. Dierkes and U.
Hoffman, eds. New Technology at the Outset: Social Forces
in the Shaping of Technological Innovation Frankfurt/Main:
Campus Verlag, 1992. pp. 279-300.
The html version is missing footnotes. The pdf version is complete.
Cowan, Robin. "Rendements croissants
d'adoption et politique technologique" in J. De Bandt and
D. Foray eds, Evaluation economique de la Recherche et du
Changement Technique Paris: Editions du Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique, 1991. pp. 381-398.Cowan, Robin. "Technological Competition
and Variety: Issues of Diffusion and Intervention", in G.
Bell, ed. Technology and Productivity: The Challenge for
Policy Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, 1991. pp. 509-522.
Collaborators
Staffan Hulten, Ecole Centrale, Paris, Grande Voie des
Vignes, Chatenay-Malabry, France Stockholm School of Economics,
Stockholm, Sweden dsh@hhs.se
Philip
Gunby, Department of Economics, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch, New Zealand
John H. Miller,
Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon Univeristy.