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Productivity, private and public capital, and real wage in the US

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  • S. J. Erenburg

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between real wages and productivity in the United States from 1948-90, by including in the measure of productivity the impact of public capital as well as private capital. The results confirm recent studies that have indicated that when the private and public capital stock is controlled for, real wage is countercyclical, and validate diminishing returns to labour, positive returns to public capital and a procyclical effect of capacity utilization on real wage. Further, the issue of spurious regression bias that arises when variables are nonstationary was addressed, and long run relationships were then estimated. Results establish a long-run relationship between productivity, real wage, the employment to capital ratio, and public to private capital ratio. Using the statistical estimates herein, if the public capital stock had remained at the historical 1948-65 ratio, rather than declining, productivity would have been between 2.4 and 2.9 percentage points higher and real wages would have been between 2 to 2.8 percentage points higher, ceteris paribus.

Suggested Citation

  • S. J. Erenburg, 1998. "Productivity, private and public capital, and real wage in the US," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(8), pages 491-495.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:5:y:1998:i:8:p:491-495
    DOI: 10.1080/135048598354410
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John A. Tatom, 1991. "Public capital and private sector performance," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 3-15.
    2. Sharon J. Erenburg, 1993. "The Relationship Between Public and Private Investment," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_85, Levy Economics Institute.
    3. Nadiri, M Ishaq & Mamuneas, Theofanis P, 1994. "The Effects of Public Infrastructure and R&D Capital on the Cost Structure and Performance of U.S. Manufacturing Industries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(1), pages 22-37, February.
    4. James H. Stock & Mark W. Watson, 1989. "A Simple MLE of Cointegrating Vectors in Higher Order Integrated Systems," NBER Technical Working Papers 0083, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pedro R. D. Bom & Jenny Ligthart, 2008. "How Productive is Public Capital? A Meta-Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 2206, CESifo.
    2. Saten Kumar & Don J. Webber & Geoff Perry, 2012. "Real wages, inflation and labour productivity in Australia," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(23), pages 2945-2954, August.
    3. Nurliyana Mohd Basri & Zulkefly Abdul Karim & Noorasiah Sulaiman, 2020. "The Effects of Factors of Production Shocks on Labor Productivity: New Evidence Using Panel VAR Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-23, October.
    4. Pedro R.D. Bom & Jenny E. Ligthart, 2009. "How Productive is Public Capital? A Meta-Regression Analysis," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0912, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    5. Pedro R.D. Bom & Jenny E. Ligthart, 2014. "What Have We Learned From Three Decades Of Research On The Productivity Of Public Capital?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 889-916, December.
    6. Arto Kovanen, 2019. "Wage Growth Puzzle and Capacity Utilization," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(2), pages 15-31, March.
    7. Chaido Dritsaki, 2016. "Real wages, inflation, and labor productivity: Evidences from Bulgaria and Romania," Journal of Economic and Financial Studies (JEFS), LAR Center Press, vol. 4(5), pages 24-36, October.

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