Technology and Costs

Introduction

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution ushered an era of technological advancements that dramatically lowered the cost of transportation, production, and other processes. However, this isn’t the only time that we’ve seen rapid advancements in technology. Over the past 50 years, laptops, the internet, and artificial intelligence have become increasingly prevalent in our daily lives.

The following graphs illustrate the adoption of different technologies in the United States.

In this module, you will learn how firms choose between different technologies. We will focus on the influence of economic factors, rather than cultural and political factors.