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On the Estimation of Returns to Scale, Technical Progress and Monopolistic Markups

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  • Kevin J. Fox
  • W. Erwin Diewert

Abstract

This paper derives a number of theoretical results in the context of estimating returns to scale, technical progress and monopolistic markups when there are multiple outputs and/or multiple inputs. The choice between value added versus gross output in the estimation of returns to scale is also addressed, including consideration of problems that arise in aggregation across sectors of an economy. As an illustration, we use US data on manufacturing at the aggregate, sector and industry levels, and find evidence of strong increasing returns to scale across all levels of aggregation. Technical progress is typically found to be insignificant implying that, contrary to many previous results, US economic growth has been driven by increasing returns to scale rather than technical progress. Such findings have important implications for the macroeconomic modeling of economic fluctuatio

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Econometric Society in its series Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings with number 310.

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Date of creation: 11 Aug 2004
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Handle: RePEc:ecm:ausm04:310

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Keywords: Productivity Growth; Technical Progress; Returns to Scale; Aggregation;

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References

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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Paolo Epifani & Gino Gancia, 2004. "The Skill Bias of World Trade," Working Papers 184, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
  2. Sara Amoroso & Peter M. Kort & Bertrand Melenberg & Joseph Plasmans & Mark Vancauteren, 2010. "Firm Level Productivity under Imperfect Competition in Output and Labor Markets," CESifo Working Paper Series 3082, CESifo Group Munich.
  3. Inklaar, Robert, 2005. "Cyclical productivity in Europe and the United States, evaluating the evidence on returns to scale and input utilization," GGDC Research Memorandum 200574, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
  4. Brandon Julio & Vito Gala, 2011. "Convergence in Corporate Investments," 2011 Meeting Papers 911, Society for Economic Dynamics.
  5. Sasan Bakhtiari, 2011. "Size Evolution and Outsourcing: Theory and Evidence from Australian Manufacturing," Discussion Papers 2012-08, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
  6. Guohua Feng & Apostolos Serletis, 2010. "A Primal Divisia Technical Change Index Based on the Output Distance Function," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 7/10, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
  7. Kevin J Fox, 2005. "Returns to Scale, Technical Progress and Total Factor Productivity Growth in New Zealand Industries," Treasury Working Paper Series 05/04, New Zealand Treasury.
  8. Førsund, Finn R. & Hjalmarsson, Lennart, 2008. "Dynamic Analysis of Structural Change and Productivity Measurement," Memorandum 27/2008, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
  9. W. Diewert & Kevin Fox, 2010. "Malmquist and Törnqvist productivity indexes: returns to scale and technical progress with imperfect competition," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 73-95, September.
  10. Christian Dahl & Hans Kongsted & Anders Sørensen, 2011. "ICT and productivity growth in the 1990s: panel data evidence on Europe," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 141-164, February.
  11. Serletis, Apostolos & Timilsina, Govinda & Vasetsky, Olexandr, 2009. "On interfuel substitution : some international evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5026, The World Bank.
  12. Xi Chen, 2011. "Increasing Returns to Scale in U.S. manufacturing industries: evidence from direct and reverse regression," Working Papers of BETA 2011-11, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
  13. Viktor Slavtchev & Simon Wiederhold, 2011. "The Impact of Government Procurement Composition on Private R&D Activities," Jena Economic Research Papers 2011-036, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Planck-Institute of Economics.
  14. Serletis, Apostolos & Timilsina, Govinda & Vasetsky, Olexandr, 2011. "International evidence on aggregate short-run and long-run interfuel substitution," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 209-216, March.
  15. Ricardo de Avillez, 2011. "A Detailed Analysis of the Productivity Performance of the Canadian Primary Agriculture Sector," CSLS Research Reports 2011-06, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
  16. Thijs Raa & Victoria Shestalova, 2011. "The Solow residual, Domar aggregation, and inefficiency: a synthesis of TFP measures," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 71-77, August.
  17. Mark Vancauteren & Bruno Henry de Frahan, 2011. "Trade Policy, Competition and Productivity: The Impact of EU Harmonization in the Dutch Food Processing Industry," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 483-509, December.

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