Microeconomics of Technology Adoption

By Andrew D. Foster, Mark R. Rosenzweig. Annual Review of Economics, 2010

1,066 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Differences in technology levels across countries account for a large component of the differences in wages and per-capita GDP across countries worldwide. This article reviews micro studies of the adoption of new technologies and the use of inputs complementary with new technologies to shed light on the barriers to technology diffusion in low-income countries. Among the factors examined affecting decisions pertaining to technology choice and input allocations are the financial and nonfinancial returns to adoption, one's own learning and social learning, technological externalities, scale economies, schooling, credit constraints, risk and incomplete insurance, and departures from behavioral rules implied by simple models of rationality.

Subfields: Accounting, Economics and Econometrics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cdb96788d583b4be3789613f704583c97cc85750

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Accounting

In Economics and Econometrics

Citations in the corpus

Using agriculture for development: Supply- and demand-side approaches (2020, neutral): “Measuring profitability in farmers’ plots is however very difficult (Foster and Rosenzweig, 2010).”
Learning Through Noticing: Theory and Evidence from a Field Experiment (2014, background): “This intuition is invoked (at least implicitly) in arguments that learning by doing is not an important determinant of adoption for old technologies in which individuals have abundant experience (Foster and Rosenzweig 2010).”
The cost of additive manufacturing: machine productivity, economies of scale and technology-push (2016, background): “…that the principal driver behind the adoption of new technologies among the community of potential users is the net benefit resulting from the use of the new technology (Stoneman, 2002a; Foster and Rosenzweig, 2010), which may be directed to develop or sustain competitive advantage (Walsh, 2004).”
Agriculture and Development: A Brief Review of the Literature (2011, positive): “Technology adoption in general is positively related to a farmer’s schooling and wealth and the adoption of the same technology by neighbors (Foster and Rosenzweig, 2010a).”
How globalization is changing digital technology adoption: An international perspective (2021, background): “Foster and Rosenzweig (2010) studied factors that in ﬂ u-ence decisions regarding technology selection and input allocation.”
Smallholder participation in contract farming: Comparative evidence from five countries (2012, background): “These patterns of engagement with and disengagement from marketing arrangements closely resemble patterns of smallholder adoption and disadoption of agricultural technologies (Feder, Just, & Zilberman, 1985; Foster & Rosenzweig, 2010).”
The Roles of Risk and Ambiguity in Technology Adoption (2014, methodology): “…evidence that most individuals are risk averse (e.g. Lin et al., 1974; Binswanger, 1980; Gollier, 2001) has stimlated much research on the effects of risk and risk-aversion on technology adoption (Feder, 1980; Sunding and Zilberman, 001; Knight et al., 2003; Foster and Rosenzweig, 2010; Liu, 2011).”
Measuring Social Networks' Effects on Agricultural Technology Adoption (2013, background): “This paper briefly reviews this literature, focusing on the measurement of social learning networks (Foster and Rosenzweig 2010 offer a broader review).”
Dial “A” for Agriculture: A Review of Information and Communication Technologies for Agricultural Extension in Developing Countries - Working Paper 269 (2011, positive): “2 Numerous economic studies have identified the determinants of technology adoption and the potential barriers to it (Feder, Just and Zilberman 1985, Foster and Rosenzweig 1995, Foster and Rosenzweig 2010).”