A flexible model of technological diffusion incorporating economic factors with an application to the spread of colour television ownership in the UK

In this paper a new encompassing flexible diffusion model of the epidemic type is proposed and its properties explored. Economic factors are incorporated directly into the model. The new model allows freer interaction between exogenous and endogenous factors in the diffusion process than existing models of this type. The model is applied to the diffusion of colour television ownership in the UK and outperforms the existing models in the literature. The exogenous factors are shown to play a more dominant role in the diffusion of colour television in the UK than existing models allow.