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"A Theory of Production" The Estimation of the Cobb-Douglas Function: A Retrospective View

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Author Info
Jesus Felipe
F. Gerard Adams

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Abstract

The Cobb-Douglas production function is still today the most ubiquitous form in theoretical and empirical analyses of growth and productivity. The estimation of the parameters of aggregate production functions is central to much of today's work on growth, technological change, productivity, and labor. This paper has taken up Samuelson's [1979] invitation to verify empirically his claim that all the regression of the Cobb-Douglas [1928] production function does is to reproduce the income accounting identity according to which value added equals the sum of the wage bill plus total profits. This paper concludes that Samuelson was right, and believes that this argument has very serious implications for today's work in macroeconomics.

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File URL: http://college.holycross.edu/eej/Volume31/V31N3P427_445.pdf
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Article provided by Eastern Economic Association in its journal Eastern Economic Journal.

Volume (Year): 31 (2005)
Issue (Month): 3 (Summer)
Pages: 427-445
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Handle: RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:31:y:2005:i:3:p:427-445

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Samuelson, Paul A, 1979. "Paul Douglas's Measurement of Production Functions and Marginal Productivities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 923-39, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Bardsen, Gunnar, 1989. "Estimation of Long Run Coefficients in Error Correction Models," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 51(3), pages 345-50, August.
  3. Shaikh, Anwar, 1974. "Laws of Production and Laws of Algebra: The Humbug Production Function," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 56(1), pages 115-20, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Fisher, Franklin M, 1969. "The Existence of Aggregate Production Functions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(4), pages 553-77, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Jesus Felipe & Franklin M. Fisher, 2003. "Aggregation in Production Functions: What Applied Economists should Know," Metroeconomica, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(2-3), pages 208-262, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Y. & Smith, R.J., 1999. "Bounds Testing Approaches to the Analysis of Long-run Relationships," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 9907, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. [Downloadable!]
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Jesus Felipe & J. S. L. McCombie, 2004. "On The Rental Price Of Capital And The Profit Rate: The Perils And Pitfalls Of Total Factor Productivity Growth," CAMA Working Papers 2004-10, Australian National University, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Jesus Felipe, Carsten A. Holz, 2001. "Why do Aggregate Production Functions Work? Fisher’s simulations, Shaikh’s identity and some new results," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 261-285, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Mishra, SK, 2007. "Globalization and its Effects on Regional Variations in Factor Substitution and Returns to Scale in the Indian Factory Sector," MPRA Paper 3265, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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