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Accounting for Productivity: Is it OK to Assume that the World is Cobb-Douglas?

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Author Info
Shekhar Aiyar (International Monetary Fund)
Carl-Johan Dalgaard (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen)

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Abstract

The development accounting literature almost always assumes a Cobb-Douglas (CD) production function. However, if in reality the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor deviates substantially from 1, the assumption is invalid, potentially casting doubt on the commonly held view that factors of production are relatively unimportant in accounting for differences in labor productivity. We use international data on relative factor shares and capital-output ratios to formulate a number of tests for the validity of the CD assumption. We find that the CD specification performs reasonably well for the purposes of cross-country productivity accounting.

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Paper provided by University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics in its series Discussion Papers with number 08-14.

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Length: 19 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2008
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Handle: RePEc:kud:kuiedp:0814

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  1. Shekhar Aiyar & Carl-Johan Dalgaard, 2004. "Total Factor Productivity Revisited: A Dual Approach to Development Accounting," EPRU Working Paper Series 04-07, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Francesco Caselli, 2005. "Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences," CEP Discussion Papers dp0667, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Diego Restuccia, 2004. "Barriers to Capital Accumulation and Aggregate Total Factor Productivity," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 45(1), pages 225-238, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Galor, Oded, 1996. "Convergence? Inferences from Theoretical Models," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 1056-69, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why Do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output per Worker than Others?," NBER Working Papers 6564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Carl-Johan Dalgaard & Martin Kaae Jensen, 2007. "Life Cycle Savings, Bequest, and the Diminishing Impact of Scale on Growth," Discussion Papers 07-17, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Charles I. Jones & Dean Scrimgeour, 2008. "A New Proof of Uzawa's Steady-State Growth Theorem," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(1), pages 180-182, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Duffy, John & Papageorgiou, Chris, 2000. " A Cross-Country Empirical Investigation of the Aggregate Production Function Specification," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 87-120, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Douglas Gollin, 2002. "Getting Income Shares Right," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(2), pages 458-474, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Chris Papageorgiou & John Duffy & Fidel Perez-Sebastian, . "Capital-Skill complementarity? Evidence from a Panel of Countries," Departmental Working Papers 2003-12, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Ben S. Bernanke & Refet S. Gurkaynak, 2001. "Is Growth Exogenous? Taking Mankiw, Romer and Weil Seriously," NBER Working Papers 8365, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Diamond, Peter & McFadden, Daniel & Rodriguez, Miguel, 1978. "Measurement of the Elasticity of Factor Substitution and Bias of Technical Change," Histoy of Economic Thought Chapters, in: Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel (ed.), Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications, volume 2, chapter 5 McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought. [Downloadable!]
  13. Lutz Hendricks, 2002. "How Important Is Human Capital for Development? Evidence from Immigrant Earnings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 198-219, March. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Daron Acemoglu, 2003. "Labor- And Capital-Augmenting Technical Change," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 1-37, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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