IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausecr/v42y2009i2p131-142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Models of Labour Services and Estimates of Australian Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Dixon
  • John Freebairn

Abstract

This paper examines the manner in which labour services are modelled in the aggregate production function, concentrating on the specification of the relationship between the number of persons employed and average hours worked. We argue that, given the presence of quasi‐fixed costs of employment, hours of work and the number of employees cannot be perfect substitutes. We then show that estimates using total hours worked as the measure of labour input implicitly assumes that they are perfect substitutes and this false assumption results, inter alia, in biased estimates of the rate of labour and multifactor productivity growth in Australia.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Dixon & John Freebairn, 2009. "Models of Labour Services and Estimates of Australian Productivity," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(2), pages 131-142, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:42:y:2009:i:2:p:131-142
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8462.2009.00532.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8462.2009.00532.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-8462.2009.00532.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kapteyn, Arie & Kalwij, Adriaan & Zaidi, Asghar, 2004. "The myth of worksharing," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 293-313, June.
    2. repec:bla:econom:v:49:y:1982:i:195:p:335-43 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. M. S. Feldstein, 1967. "Specification of the Labour Input in the Aggregate Production Function," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 34(4), pages 375-386.
    4. Sarah Dolfin, 2006. "An examination of firms' employment costs," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(8), pages 861-878.
    5. F. P. R. Brechling, 1965. "The Relationship between Output and Employment in British Manufacturing Industries," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 32(3), pages 187-216.
    6. Harding, Don, 2002. "The effect of unfair dismissal laws on small and medium sized businesses," MPRA Paper 43, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. repec:bla:ecorec:v:69:y:1993:i:207:p:428-36 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:mpr:mprres:5053 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Benoit Freyens & Paul Oslington, 2007. "Dismissal Costs and Their Impact on Employment: Evidence from Australian Small and Medium Enterprises," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(260), pages 1-15, March.
    10. repec:bla:scandj:v:90:y:1988:i:1:p:45-62 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Productivity Commission, 2004. "Workers Compensation and Occupational Health and Safety Frameworks," Labor and Demography 0410004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Alison Booth & Martin Ravallion, 1993. "Employment and Length of the Working Week in a Unionized Economy in which Hours of Work Influence Productivity," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 69(4), pages 428-436, December.
    13. Walter Y. Oi, 1962. "Labor as a Quasi-Fixed Factor," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(6), pages 538-538.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maya Eden, 2021. "Time‐Inseparable Labor Productivity and the Workweek," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(3), pages 940-965, July.
    2. Eden,Maya, 2016. "The week," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7598, The World Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Dixon & John Freebairn, 2007. "Hours of Work: A Demand Perspective," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1022, The University of Melbourne.
    2. Grace Weishi Gu, 2018. "Employment and the Cyclical Cost of Worker Benefits," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 28, pages 96-120, April.
    3. Françoise Delmez & Vincent Vandenberghe, 2017. "Working long hours: less productive but less costly? Firm-level evidence from Belgium," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2017022, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    4. Lonnie Golden & Stuart Glosser, 2013. "Work sharing as a potential policy tool for creating more and better employment: A review of the evidence," Chapters, in: Jon C. Messenger & Naj Ghosheh (ed.), Work Sharing during the Great Recession, chapter 7, pages 203-258, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Annemarie Künn-Nelen & Andries de Grip & Didier Fouarge, 2013. "Is Part-Time Employment Beneficial for Firm Productivity?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(5), pages 1172-1191, October.
    6. Dietz, Martin & Stops, Michael & Walwei, Ulrich, 2012. "Securing Jobs in Times of Recession. The German Experience during the Financial Crisis 2008/2009/Asegurando los puestos de trabajo en tiempos de recesión. La experiencia alemana durante la crisis fina," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 30, pages 59-100, Abril.
    7. Riefers, Rudolf, 1969. "Kurzfristige Beschäftigungsfunktionen : ein Literaturüberblick," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 2(9), pages 698-712.
    8. Wolfgang Pollan, 1980. "Wage rigidity and the structure of the Austrian manufacturing industry," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 116(4), pages 697-728, December.
    9. Bernanke, Ben S, 1986. "Employment, Hours, and Earnings in the Depression: An Analysis of EightManufacturing Industries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(1), pages 82-109, March.
    10. Simon Cueva & Éric Heyer, 1997. "Fonction de production et degrés d'utilisation du capital et du travail : une analyse économétrique," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 131(5), pages 93-111.
    11. Koch, Susanne, 2001. "Arbeitszeit und Beschäftigung im gesamtwirtschaftlichen Zusammenhang : Arbeitszeitfragen und ihre Behandlung in ökonomischen Modellen: Literaturüberblick und Forschungsperspektiven (Working time and e," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 34(1), pages 28-44.
    12. Ben S. Bernanke & James Powell, 1986. "The Cyclical Behavior of Industrial Labor Markets: A Comparison of the Prewar and Postwar Eras," NBER Chapters, in: The American Business Cycle: Continuity and Change, pages 583-638, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2001. "The effects of working time reductions on wages, actual hours and equilibrium unemployment," Working Paper Series 2001:8, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    14. Mark Wooden, 2006. "Implications of Work Choices Legislation," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 13(2), pages 99-116.
    15. repec:eee:labchp:v:2:y:1986:i:c:p:789-848 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Benoît Pierre FREYENS, 2010. "Measuring firing costs: The case for direct methods," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 149(3), pages 287-313, September.
    17. Kapteyn, Arie & Kalwij, Adriaan & Zaidi, Asghar, 2004. "The myth of worksharing," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 293-313, June.
    18. Frederico Belo & Jun Li & Xiaoji Lin & Xiaofei Zhao, 2017. "Labor-Force Heterogeneity and Asset Prices: The Importance of Skilled Labor," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(10), pages 3669-3709.
    19. Productivity Commission, 2006. "The Role of Non-Traditional Work in the Australian Labour Market," Research Papers 0601, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia.
    20. Robert Dixon & David Shepherd, 2010. "Models of labour services and estimates of total factor productivity," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(28), pages 3629-3634.
    21. Wolfgang W. Franz, 1971. "A Theoretical Model of the Employment Impacts of Defense Contracts and Private Orders, with Empirical Applications to the Aircraft Industry," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 15(1), pages 23-37, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:42:y:2009:i:2:p:131-142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mimelau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.