IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecinqu/v59y2021i3p1346-1363.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The optimal use of management

Author

Listed:
  • Robin C. Sickles
  • Kai Sun
  • Thomas P. Triebs

Abstract

We analyze the management input from the perspective of shadow cost minimization. Using Bloom and Van Reenen's management measure, we estimate management's shadow price, dual Morishima elasticities of substitution, and relative price efficiencies. We find that the shadow price of management is about 1.3 million US dollars. Management is a weak dual complement for labor but a strong dual complement for capital. Increases in management reduce the relative income share of labor but not capital. Most firms use too little management, but relative use of management improves over time, with the combination of ownership and control, and competition.

Suggested Citation

  • Robin C. Sickles & Kai Sun & Thomas P. Triebs, 2021. "The optimal use of management," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1346-1363, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:59:y:2021:i:3:p:1346-1363
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12979
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12979
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecin.12979?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shasha Liu & Robin Sickles, 2021. "The agency problem revisited: a structural analysis of managerial productivity and CEO compensation in large US commercial banks," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 391-418, January.
    2. Douglas Holtz-Eakin & David Joulfaian & Harvey S. Rosen, 1993. "The Carnegie Conjecture: Some Empirical Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(2), pages 413-435.
    3. Alchian, Armen A & Demsetz, Harold, 1972. "Production , Information Costs, and Economic Organization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(5), pages 777-795, December.
    4. Nicholas Bloom & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2012. "Americans Do IT Better: US Multinationals and the Productivity Miracle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 167-201, February.
    5. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna, 1990. "A distance function approach to price efficiency," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 123-126, October.
    6. Alex Edmans & Xavier Gabaix & Dirk Jenter, 2017. "Executive Compensation: A Survey of Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 23596, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Nicholas Bloom & Benn Eifert & Aprajit Mahajan & David McKenzie & John Roberts, 2013. "Does Management Matter? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 1-51.
    8. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1351-1408.
    9. Mefford, Robert N, 1986. "Introducing Management into the Production Function," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 68(1), pages 96-104, February.
    10. John Forth & Alex Bryson, 2019. "Management practices and SME performance," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 66(4), pages 527-558, September.
    11. Miriam Bruhn & Dean Karlan & Antoinette Schoar, 2018. "The Impact of Consulting Services on Small and Medium Enterprises: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Mexico," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(2), pages 635-687.
    12. David Stern, 2011. "Elasticities of substitution and complementarity," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 79-89, August.
    13. Michela Giorcelli, 2019. "The Long-Term Effects of Management and Technology Transfers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(1), pages 121-152, January.
    14. Hanoch, Giora & Rothschild, Michael, 1972. "Testing the Assumptions of Production Theory: A Nonparametric Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 256-275, March-Apr.
    15. Charles Blackorby & R. Robert Russell, 1981. "The Morishima Elasticity of Substitution; Symmetry, Constancy, Separability, and its Relationship to the Hicks and Allen Elasticities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 48(1), pages 147-158.
    16. Van Reenen, John & Bloom, Nicholas & Sadun, Raffaella, 2016. "Management as a Technology," CEPR Discussion Papers 11312, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376.
    18. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    19. Van Reenen, John, 2011. "Does competition raise productivity through improving management quality?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 306-316, May.
    20. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    21. Carol A. Corrado & Charles R. Hulten, 2010. "How Do You Measure a "Technological Revolution"?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 99-104, May.
    22. Sickles,Robin C. & Zelenyuk,Valentin, 2019. "Measurement of Productivity and Efficiency," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107036161, October.
    23. Casey Ichniowski & Kathryn L. Shaw, 2009. "Insider Econometrics: Empirical Studies of How Management Matters," NBER Working Papers 15618, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Nicholas Bloom & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lucia Foster & Ron Jarmin & Megha Patnaik & Itay Saporta-Eksten & John Van Reenen, 2019. "What Drives Differences in Management Practices?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(5), pages 1648-1683, May.
    25. Triebs, T.P. & Kumbhakar, S.C., 2013. "Productivity with general indices of management and technical change," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 18-22.
    26. Charles Blackorby & R. Robert Russell, 1976. "Functional Structure and the Allen Partial Elasticities of Substitution: An Application of Duality Theory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 43(2), pages 285-291.
    27. Marianne Bertrand, 2009. "CEOs," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 121-150, May.
    28. Atkinson, Scott E. & Halvorsen, Robert, 1986. "The relative efficiency of public and private firms in a regulated environment: The case of U.S. electric utilities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 281-294, April.
    29. Kumbhakar, Subal C., 2013. "Specification and estimation of multiple output technologies: A primal approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(2), pages 465-473.
    30. Robert D. Willig, 1987. "Corporate Governance and Market Structure," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka (ed.), Economic Policy in Theory and Practice, chapter 13, pages 481-503, Palgrave Macmillan.
    31. Bart van Ark & Mary O'Mahoney & Marcel P. Timmer, 2008. "The Productivity Gap between Europe and the United States: Trends and Causes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 25-44, Winter.
    32. Yair Mundlak, 1961. "Empirical Production Function Free of Management Bias," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 43(1), pages 44-56.
    33. Atkinson, Scott E & Halvorsen, Robert, 1984. "Parametric Efficiency Tests, Economies of Scale, and Input Demand in U.S. Electric Power Generation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 25(3), pages 647-662, October.
    34. Thomas P. Triebs & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2018. "Management in production: from unobserved to observed," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 111-121, June.
    35. Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka (ed.), 1987. "Economic Policy in Theory and Practice," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-18584-9, December.
    36. Christopher Parmeter & Kai Sun & Daniel Henderson & Subal Kumbhakar, 2014. "Estimation and inference under economic restrictions," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 111-129, February.
    37. R. Robert Russell, 1975. "Functional Separability and Partial Elasticities of Substitution," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 42(1), pages 79-85.
    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. Alecos Papadopoulos, 2021. "Measuring the effect of management on production: a two-tier stochastic frontier approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(6), pages 3011-3041, June.

    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. Alecos Papadopoulos, 2021. "Measuring the effect of management on production: a two-tier stochastic frontier approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(6), pages 3011-3041, June.
    2. Daniela Scur & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen & Renata Lemos & Nicholas Bloom, 2021. "The World Management Survey at 18: lessons and the way forward," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 37(2), pages 231-258.
    3. Anna Valero, 2021. "Education and management practices," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 37(2), pages 302-322.
    4. Dimitrios Exadactylos & Massimo Riccaboni & Armando Rungi, 2019. "Talents from Abroad. Foreign Managers and Productivity in the United Kingdom," Working Papers 01/2019, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Dec 2019.
    5. Sivropoulos-Valero, Anna Valero, 2021. "Education and management practices," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114436, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Schnabel, Isabel & Truger, Achim & Wieland, Volker, 2019. "Den Strukturwandel meistern. Jahresgutachten 2019/20 [Dealing with Structural Change. Annual Report 2019/20]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201920.
    7. Anna Valero, 2021. "Education and management practices," POID Working Papers 007, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Bilicka, Katarzyna & Scur, Daniela, 2024. "Organizational capacity and profit shifting," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    9. Nicholas Bloom & Benn Eifert & Aprajit Mahajan & David McKenzie & John Roberts, 2013. "Does Management Matter? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 1-51.
    10. Marcus Biermann, 2022. "The role of management practices in acquisitions and the FDI location decision," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 137-165, February.
    11. Exadaktylos, Dimitrios & Riccaboni, Massimo & Rungi, Armando, 2024. "Talents from abroad. Foreign managers and productivity in the United Kingdom," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    12. Fabiano Schivardi & Tom Schmitz, 2020. "The IT Revolution and Southern Europe’s Two Lost Decades [Lack of Selection and Limits to Delegation: Firm Dynamics in Developing Countries]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(5), pages 2441-2486.
    13. Audinga Baltrunaite & Sara Formai & Andrea Linarello & Sauro Mocetti, 2022. "Ownership, Governance, Management and Firm Performance: Evidence from Italian Firms," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 678, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    14. Achyuta Adhvaryu & Anant Nyshadham & Jorge A. Tamayo, 2019. "Managerial Quality and Productivity Dynamics," NBER Working Papers 25852, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Oriana Bandiera & Renata Lemos & Andrea Prat & Raffaella Sadun, 2018. "Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(5), pages 1605-1653.
    16. Gilbert CETTE & Jimmy LOPEZ & Jacques MAIRESSE & Giuseppe NICOLETTI, 2020. "Economic Adjustment during the Great Recession: The Role of Managerial Quality," Working Papers 2020-26, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    17. Bloom, Nicholas & Iacovone, Leonardo & Pereira-Lopez, Mariana & Van Reenen, John, 2022. "Management and misallocation in Mexico," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117752, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Baltrunaite, Audinga & Bovini, Giulia & Mocetti, Sauro, 2023. "Managerial talent and managerial practices: Are they complements?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    19. Ohlsbom, Roope, 2021. "Management Practices Drive Productivity – But Not Without Human Capital," ETLA Working Papers 88, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    20. Van Reenen, John, 2011. "Does competition raise productivity through improving management quality?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 306-316, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • M11 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Production Management

    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:ecinqu:v:59:y:2021:i:3:p:1346-1363. 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/weaaaea.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.