IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/mgtdec/v27y2006i8p613-630.html

Factor substitution in the production of library services: evidence from the North American research libraries

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher J. Hammond

    (The Business School, University of Hull, UK)

Abstract

Economic analysis provides a rigorous foundation for the investigation of production activity, but relatively little attention has been given to service activities. This paper examines the technology of library services. Previous studies of library economics have focused mainly on economies of scale. The model proposed identifies scale economies, together with the substitution relationships among three categories of library staff, which are inferred from estimates of the cost function of 92 research libraries. For all categories of employees there is evidence of substitutability, but the demand for librarians is inelastic and the substitution possibilities weak. Student assistants are relatively strong substitutes for support staff and to a limited degree may be substituted for trained librarians. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher J. Hammond, 2006. "Factor substitution in the production of library services: evidence from the North American research libraries," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(8), pages 613-630.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:27:y:2006:i:8:p:613-630
    DOI: 10.1002/mde.1296
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/mde.1296
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/mde.1296?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. Hammond, Christopher J., 1999. "The technology of library service provision: a cost function analysis of public library systems in the United Kingdom," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 271-295, September.
    2. J. R. Hicks, 1963. "The Theory of Wages," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-00189-7, March.
    3. Chambers,Robert G., 1988. "Applied Production Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521314275, Enero-Abr.
    4. Diewert, Walter E & Wales, Terence J, 1987. "Flexible Functional Forms and Global Curvature Conditions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(1), pages 43-68, January.
    5. DeBoer, Larry, 1992. "Economies of scale and input substitution in public libraries," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 257-268, September.
    6. Y. Mundlak, 1968. "Elasticities of Substitution and the Theory of Derived Demand," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 35(2), pages 225-236.
    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. William F. Stine, 2008. "An empirical analysis of the effect of volunteer labor on public library employment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 525-538.

    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. Hammond, Christopher J., 1999. "The technology of library service provision: a cost function analysis of public library systems in the United Kingdom," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 271-295, September.
    2. Habib Ahmed & Stephen M. Miller, 1999. "A Model of Endogenous Union Density and Membership," Working papers 1999-01, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    3. Paul, Saumik, 2019. "A Decline in Labor's Share with Capital Accumulation and Complementary Factor Inputs: An Application of the Morishima Elasticity of Substitution," IZA Discussion Papers 12219, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Guenter Lang, 2002. "Innovative Slowdown, Productivity Reversal? - Estimating the Impact of R&D on Technological Change," Discussion Paper Series 218, Universitaet Augsburg, Institute for Economics.
    5. William F. Stine, 2008. "An empirical analysis of the effect of volunteer labor on public library employment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 525-538.
    6. Amir Borges Ferreira Neto, 2023. "Do public libraries impact local labour markets? Evidence from Appalachia," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 216-238, April.
    7. Ma, Chunbo & Stern, David I., 2016. "Long-run estimates of interfuel and interfactor elasticities," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 114-130.
    8. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/62drs526639gbqbrni9v9kvsv5 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1cpd872l2j8lb968d53pu5f30q is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Sauer, J. & Mendoza-Escalante, A., . "Farming in the Eastern Amazon – Poor but Allocatively Efficient," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 43.
    11. Surry, Yves, "undated". "The "Constant Difference Of Elasticities" (Cde) Functional Form: A Neglected Alternative," 1989 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 2, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 270500, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    12. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo, 2009. "An analysis of cost efficiency in Swiss multi-utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 306-315, March.
    13. Sauer, J., . "Monotonicity and Curvature – A Bootstrapping Approach," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 42.
    14. Falk, Martin & Koebel, Bertrand M., 2000. "Outsourcing of services, imported materials and the demand for heterogeneous labour : an application of a generalised box-cox function," ZEW Discussion Papers 00-51, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Frédéric Reynès, 2017. "The Cobb-Douglas function as a flexible function. Analysing the substitution between capital, labor and energy," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2017-12, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    16. De Blander, Rembert & Frahan, Bruno Henry de, 2011. "Analysis of Technical and Policy Changes for Belgian Dairy Farms Using an Estimated Augmented SGM Cost Function," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114546, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Eswaramoorthy, K., 1991. "U.S. livestock production and factor demand: a multiproduct dynamic dual approach," ISU General Staff Papers 1991010108000010523, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    18. Alarcón, Silverio, 2005. "Input Substitution in the Spanish Food Industry," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24487, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Pan, Shihua, 1990. "The microfoundations of mixed system of planning and markets: some theoretical considerations and an empirical analysis of the Chinese agriculture," ISU General Staff Papers 1990010108000010876, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    20. Ornella Wanda Maietta & Vania Sena, 2008. "Shadow price of capital and the Furubotn–Pejovich effect: Some empirical evidence for Italian wine cooperatives," Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(5), pages 495-505, September.
    21. Alexander Hijzen, 2004. "Trade in Intermediates and the Rise in Wage Inequality in the UK: A GNP Function Approach," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 224, Econometric Society.
    22. Bezlepkina, Irina V. & Oude Lansink, Alfons G.J.M. & Oskam, Arie J., 2001. "Farm Firm Micro-Econometric Modelling:Empirical Evidence From Russian Dairy Farming," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20464, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    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:wly:mgtdec:v:27:y:2006:i:8:p:613-630. 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: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/7976 .

    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.