The Political Economy of Long-Term Technological Stasis: The Case of Saharan Salt Mining

Abstract

Innovation is an important source of economic growth and competitive advantage. Consequently, a diverse literature in economics and management addresses a variety of questions about how to manage technological change. This paper explores the opposite question: What explains the absence of change? The existing literature is applied to our case study, salt mining in the Sahara desert, in order to generate new insights into barriers to technology adoption. We find that firms are instrumental in setting the direction and rate of technology adoption, and show the myriad ways in which firms are, in turn, shaped by their political system.