Public economics

Physics

Sociology

Externality

Population

Economic growth

Per capita

Demography

Political science

Economics

Microeconomics

Rationality

Scale (ratio)

Quantum mechanics

Developing country

Annual Review of Economics

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.

Microeconomics of Technology Adoption