Specifying technical change: a research on the nature of technical change in Dutch hospital industry

摘要

This paper studies the nature of technical change in Dutch hospitals. From the estimation of a cost function on data in the time period 1993-2000 we conclude that technical change is embodied (input biased) and non-scale augmenting. Technical change leads to an increasing use of medical personnel and material supplies at the expense of nursing personnel. Specifying technical change by a technology index allowing for a shock wise introduction of new technologies is to be preferred to the traditional time trends. Efficiency scores however are hardly affected by the choice of specification.