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Capital-labor substitution and equilibrium indeterminacy

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  • Guo, Jang-Ting
  • Lansing, Kevin J.

Abstract

This paper examines the quantitative relationship between the elasticity of capital-labor substitution in production and the conditions needed for equilibrium indeterminacy (and belief-driven fluctuations) in a one-sector growth model. With variable capital utilization, the substitution elasticity has little quantitative impact on the minimum degree of increasing returns needed for indeterminacy. However, when capital utilization is constant, a below-unity substitution elasticity sharply raises the minimum degree of increasing returns because it imposes a higher effective adjustment cost on labor hours. Overall, our results show that empirically-plausible departures from the Cobb-Douglas production specification can make indeterminacy more difficult to achieve.

Suggested Citation

  • Guo, Jang-Ting & Lansing, Kevin J., 2009. "Capital-labor substitution and equilibrium indeterminacy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 1991-2000, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:dyncon:v:33:y:2009:i:12:p:1991-2000
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    7. Matteo F. Ghilardi & Raffaele Rossi, 2014. "Aggregate Stability and Balanced‐Budget Rules," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(8), pages 1787-1809, December.
    8. Olivier CARDI & Romain RESTOUT, 2023. "Why Hours Worked Decline Less After Technology Shocks?," Working Papers of BETA 2023-30, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    9. Rainer Klump & Peter McAdam & Alpo Willman, 2012. "The Normalized Ces Production Function: Theory And Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 769-799, December.
    10. Nishimura, Kazuo & Seegmuller, Thomas & Venditti, Alain, 2015. "Fiscal policy, debt constraint and expectations-driven volatility," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 305-316.
    11. Nishimura, Kazuo & Venditti, Alain, 2010. "Indeterminacy and expectation-driven fluctuations with non-separable preferences," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 46-56, July.
    12. Cantore, C. & Levine, P., 2012. "Getting normalization right: Dealing with ‘dimensional constants’ in macroeconomics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 1931-1949.
    13. Jakub Growiec & Peter McAdam & Jakub Mućk, 2021. "On the Optimal Labor Income Share," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 17(70), pages 1-52, October.
    14. Luciano BOGGIO & Vincenzo DALL’AGLIO & Marco MAGNANI, 2010. "On Labour Shares in Recent Decades: A Survey," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 118(3), pages 283-333.
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    17. Fabien Tripier, 2009. "Elasticity of factor substitution and the rise in labor's share of income during the Great Depression," Working Papers hal-00419343, HAL.
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