The Changing Economics of Technological Learning

This paper deals with the emergence of new technologies of learning. In general, new tools and technologies of learning (simulation methods, electronic networks, etc.) ease some of the problems in the economics of learning. They help to reduce costs of information processing and to preserve technological diversity, as it is economically feasible to maintain alternative technology designs much longer. These effects in turn have a positive influence on the adaptive capacity of the techno-economic system. First, it enables to explore an entire spectrum of technological variety and thus to broaden the portfolio of technological alternatives. Second, it enables to produce both effective outputs and knowledge in the process of using a technology. This means that knowledge and information about environmental impacts of a technology can be continuously generated very early on.