IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedgfe/2004-58.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Diverging measures of capacity utilization: an explanation

Author

Abstract

In the wake of the recent recovery in manufacturing production, the capacity utilization rates published by the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) have rebounded much more slowly than those published by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). As a result, some observers have speculated that the manufacturing sector may have considerably less slack than is indicated by the FRB measures. Our view is that the two characterizations of manufacturing slack are not as incongruent as they first appear. This paper discusses the practical and conceptual differences between these measures of capacity utilization, and concludes that the recent divergence simply reflects the character of the latest business cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Norman J. Morin & John J. Stevens, 2004. "Diverging measures of capacity utilization: an explanation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-58, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2004-58
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2004/200458/200458abs.html
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2004/200458/200458pap.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George L. Perry, 1973. "Capacity in Manufacturing," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 4(3), pages 701-742.
    2. Norman J. Morin & John J. Stevens, 2004. "Estimating capacity utilization from survey data," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-49, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    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. Nienke Oomes & Oksana Dynnikova, 2006. "The Utilization-Adjusted Output Gap: Is the Russian Economy Overheating?," IMF Working Papers 2006/068, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Segal, Gill & Shaliastovich, Ivan, 2023. "Uncertainty, risk, and capital growth," SAFE Working Paper Series 388, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    3. Stefan Erdorf & Nicolas Heinrichs, 2011. "Co-movement of revenue: structural changes in the business cycle," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 25(4), pages 411-433, December.
    4. Dengjun Zhang, 2022. "Capacity utilization under credit constraints: A firm‐level study of Latin American manufacturing," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1367-1386, January.

    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. Santiago J. Gahn, 2020. "Is there a decreasing trend in capacity utilisation in the US economy? Some new evidence," Working Papers PKWP2006, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    2. Pascal Michaillat & Emmanuel Saez, 2015. "Aggregate Demand, Idle Time, and Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 507-569.
    3. Almut Balleer & Marvin Noeller, 2023. "Monetary Policy in the Presence of Supply Constraints: Evidence from German Firm-Level Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 10261, CESifo.
    4. Craig Burnside & Martin Eichenbaum & Sergio Rebelo, 1995. "Capital Utilization and Returns to Scale," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1995, Volume 10, pages 67-124, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Federico Bassi, 2020. "Chronic Excess Capacity and Unemployment Hysteresis in EU Countries. A Structural Approach," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def091, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    6. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:5:y:2007:i:4:p:1-12 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Gantert, Konstantin, 2022. "The impact of active aggregate demand on utilisation-adjusted TFP," IWH Discussion Papers 9/2022, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    8. Norman J. Morin & John J. Stevens, 2004. "Estimating capacity utilization from survey data," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-49, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Lefteris Tsoulfidis & Theologos Dergiades, 2007. "Estimating Capacity Utilization Using a SVAR Model: An Application to the US and Canadian Economies," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 5(4), pages 1-12.
    10. Kennedy, James E., 1998. "An Analysis of Time-Series Estimates of Capacity Utilization," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 169-187, January.
    11. Santiago J. Gahn, 2022. "Towards an explanation of a declining trend in capacity utilisation in the US economy," Working Papers PKWP2214, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    12. Christoph E. Boehm & Nitya Pandalai-Nayar, 2022. "Convex Supply Curves," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(12), pages 3941-3969, December.
    13. Albert A. Hirsch, 1977. "Measurement and Price Effects of Aggregate Supply Constraints," NBER Chapters, in: Analysis of Inflation: 1965–1974, pages 299-332, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Nienke Oomes & Oksana Dynnikova, 2006. "The Utilization-Adjusted Output Gap: Is the Russian Economy Overheating?," IMF Working Papers 2006/068, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Wen, Yi, 1998. "Capacity Utilization under Increasing Returns to Scale," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 7-36, July.
    16. Federico Bassi, 2019. "Capacity Utilization and the NAIRCU," Working Papers hal-02360456, HAL.
    17. Michalis Nikiforos, 2012. "On the Utilization Controversy: A Theoretical and Empirical Discussion of the Kaleckian Model of Growth and Distribution," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_739, Levy Economics Institute.
    18. Federico Bassi, 2019. "Capacity Utilization and the NAIRCU," CEPN Working Papers hal-02360456, HAL.
    19. Theologos Dergiades & Lefteris Tsoulfidis, 2007. "A New Method For The Estimation Of Capacity Utilization: Theory And Empirical Evidence From 14 Eu Countries," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 361-381, October.
    20. Federico Bassi, 2019. "Capacity Utilization and the NAIRCU - Evidences of Hysteresis in EU countries," CEPN Working Papers 2019-09, Centre d'Economie de l'Université de Paris Nord.
    21. Xiaohong Li & John Ogier & John Cullen, 2006. "An economic modelling approach for public sector construction workload planning," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(11), pages 1137-1147.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Industrial capacity; Statistical methods;

    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:fip:fedgfe:2004-58. 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: Ryan Wolfslayer ; Keisha Fournillier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbgvus.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.