Total factor productivity growth and directions of technical change bias: evidence from 99 OECD and non-OECD countries

Based on data of 99 nations during 1991–2003, the Malmquist index and its composition of technical change and efficiency change are estimated. In particular, the hypothesis of neutral technology is released to divide technology into the magnitude of the shift in the world production frontier and input-biased technology, and to show that in order to gain more benefit or not to lose so much benefit from technology change, it is important for countries to coordinate their choice of input mix with the directions of technology bias if their technical changes are biased. The results indicate that both OECD and non-OECD countries tend to show capital-using/labor-saving, capital-using/energy-saving and energy-using/labor-saving technical change bias over the entire period. The production pattern of a majority of countries is shown to have been able to take advantage of their technological innovations.