This dissertation collects three essays developing and extending the research on economically directed technical change and growth.

In the first chapter, I argue about the relevance of the bias of technological change for important problems in macroeconomics, income distribution, growth, economic development, international trade, climate change, and outline a number of benchmark models of economically directed technical progress which provide useful workhorses to address these issues. Special emphasis is put in comparing differences in the modeling structure arising from the consideration of a fixed proportion technology as opposed to a smooth production function.

In Chapter II, I consider an economy in which human activities congest a limited natural resource such as the carrying capacity of the earth's atmosphere, and I study the effects of climate change and congestion on optimal growth and direction of technological progress. I show that, as long as the natural resource is properly priced, directed technical change acts in stabilizing the growth path of the economy and mitigating environmental stress. An economy not pricing the natural resource, on the other hand, will never reach a balanced growth path, and will be prone to inevitable catastrophic outcomes.

The focus of Chapter III is on the differences in the way contracts regulating the use of inputs in production are enforced. In an efficiency wage model at the firm level, I study the effect of increasing monitoring ability associated with technical improvement on patterns of technology adoption by capitalist firms. I show that the effects of technological change on factor-discipline are relevant in shaping innovative decisions both in the short and in the long run.