The Stochastic Model of Technical Change and Profit Rates: Korean Economy (Manufacturing Sector: 1970–2015)

This article aims to reconstruct major macroeconomic variables, including the profit rate in the Korean economy, by using the stochastic model of technical change. This model needs no a priori technological patterns concerning available technologies, such as the neoclassical production function or fixed coefficient technologies. This article provides a summary of the rate of profit, the productivity of capital, and labor productivity in the Korean manufacturing sector between 1970 and 2015. A multiple structural break model detects possible regime changes in the growth rate of each type of productivity. The innovation sets for the simulation are created based on this test. Furthermore, the article reconstructs the rate of profit, the productivity of capital, and labor productivity in Korea’s manufacturing sector and discusses a catching-up process by Korea with the United States, which the model reproduces. JEL Classification: E11, E17, O14, O33