IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ioe/doctra/226.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Cross-Country Estimation of the Elasticity of Substitution between Labor and Capital in Manufacturing Industries

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastián Claro

    (Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.)

Abstract

This paper presents a simple methodology to estimate the elasticity of substitution between labor and capital for firms operating in perfectly competitive markets with CRS production functions. It is applied in a cross-country sample to 28 3-digit ISIC manufacturing industries. The econometric procedure relies on measures of sectorial capital stock, that are estimated for a sample of more than 30 countries. Unlike older studies, the estimates are consistent with hicks-neutral cross-country technology differences. The results reveal that in most industries the elasticity of substitution is smaller than one, rejecting the null hypothesis of Cobb-Douglas production functions. The paper provides then an estimation of ¾LK at a level of aggregation extremely useful for research in the international trade literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastián Claro, 2002. "A Cross-Country Estimation of the Elasticity of Substitution between Labor and Capital in Manufacturing Industries," Documentos de Trabajo 226, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    • Handle: RePEc:ioe:doctra:226
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.economia.uc.cl/docs/doctra/dt-226.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ernst R. Berndt & Laurits R. Christensen, 1973. "The Internal Structure of Functional Relationships: Separability, Substitution, and Aggregation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 40(3), pages 403-410.
    2. Jere Behrman, 1982. "Country and Sectoral Variations in Manufacturing Elasticities of Substitution between Capital and Labor," NBER Chapters, in: Trade and Employment in Developing Countries, Volume 2: Factor Supply and Substitution, pages 159-192, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Vittorio Corbo & Patricio Meller, 1982. "The Substitution of Labor, Skill, and Capital: Its Implications for Trade and Employment," NBER Chapters, in: Trade and Employment in Developing Countries, Volume 2: Factor Supply and Substitution, pages 193-214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Leon Bettendorf & Albert van der Horst, 2006. "Documentation of CORTAX," CPB Memorandum 161.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    2. Avetisyan, Misak & Hertel, Thomas, 2021. "Impacts of trade facilitation on modal choice and international trade flows," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    3. Sebastián Claro, 2003. "Tariffs, Technology and Global Integration," Documentos de Trabajo 240, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    4. Antoszewski, Michal, 2017. "Panel estimation of sectoral substitution elasticities for CES production functions," MF Working Papers 28, Ministry of Finance in Poland.
    5. Don Fullerton & Garth Heutel, 2007. "Who bears the burden of a tax on carbon emissions in Japan?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 8(4), pages 255-270, December.
    6. Marcos Minoru Hasegawa, 2010. "The Tax Policy in the Chilean Economy: a Regional Applied General Equilibrium Analysis," Documentos de Trabajo en Economia y Ciencia Regional 05, Universidad Catolica del Norte, Chile, Department of Economics, revised Dec 2010.
    7. Zachlod-Jelec, Magdalena & Boratynski, Jakub, 2016. "How large and uncertain are costs of 2030 GHG emissions reduction target for the European countries? Sensitivity analysis in a global CGE model," MF Working Papers 26, Ministry of Finance in Poland.
    8. Leon Bettendorf & Albert van der Horst, 2006. "Documentation of CORTAX," CPB Memorandum 161, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    9. Fullerton, Don & Heutel, Garth, 2007. "The general equilibrium incidence of environmental taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 571-591, April.
    10. Sebastián Claro, 2005. "Understanding International Differences in Trade and Capital Market Integration," Documentos de Trabajo 285, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    11. Cristián Mardones Poblete, 2010. "Evaluando Reformas Tributarias en Chile con un Modelo CGE," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 37(2 Year 20), pages 243-284, December.
    12. Julia Hall & Grant Scobie, 2005. "Capital Shallowness: A Problem for New Zealand?," Treasury Working Paper Series 05/05, New Zealand Treasury.
    13. Sebastián Claro, 2004. "Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions of Trade Liberalization," Documentos de Trabajo 265, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    14. Cristián Mardones P., 2014. "Complementarity between flat tax and conditional cash transfers to improve the income distribution in Chile," Journal Economía Chilena (The Chilean Economy), Central Bank of Chile, vol. 17(3), pages 04-27, December.
    15. Wong, Tsz-Nga & Yip, Chong K., 2010. "Indeterminacy and the elasticity of substitution in one-sector models," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 623-635, April.
    16. Mr. Christopher S Adam & Mr. Edward F Buffie, 2020. "The Minimum Wage Puzzle in Less Developed Countries: Reconciling Theory and Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2020/023, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Mardones D., Cristián, 2012. "Chile: building a computable general equilibrium model with an application to the Bío Bío region," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    18. López, Ramón & Islam, Asif, 2011. "Fiscal spending for economic growth in the presence of imperfect markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 8709, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    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. Kevin J. Fox & Ulrich Kohli & Alice Shiu, 2010. "Trade Agreements and Trade Opportunities: A Flexible Approach for Modeling Australian Export and Import Elasticities," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 513-530, August.
    2. Barnett, A. H. & Reutter, Keith & Thompson, Henry, 1998. "Electricity substitution: some local industrial evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 411-419, September.
    3. Lagomarsino, Elena, 2021. "Which nesting structure for the CES? A new selection approach based on input separability," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Andrei Polbin & Sergey Drobyshevsky, 2014. "Developing a Dynamic Stochastic Model of General Equilibrium for the Russian Economy," Research Paper Series, Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, issue 166P, pages 156-156.
    5. Mr. Alberto Behar, 2023. "The Elasticity of Substitution Between Skilled and Unskilled Labor in Developing Countries: A Directed Technical Change Perspective," IMF Working Papers 2023/165, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Rosario Crinò, 2010. "Service Offshoring and White-Collar Employment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(2), pages 595-632.
    7. Alberto Behar, 2005. "Does training benefit those who do not get any? Elasticities of complementarity and factor price in South Africa," Economics Series Working Papers 244, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    8. Wall, Charles A. & Fisher, Brian S., 1988. "Supply Response and the Theory of Production and Profit Functions," Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 56(03), pages 1-22, December.
    9. Sperlich, Stefan & Tjøstheim, Dag & Yang, Lijian, 2002. "Nonparametric Estimation And Testing Of Interaction In Additive Models," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 197-251, April.
    10. Jose A. Perez‐Mendez & David Roibas & Alan Wall, 2019. "The influence of weather conditions on dairy production," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(2), pages 165-175, March.
    11. Lila J. Truett & Dale B. Truett, 2005. "Nafta¡¯S Impact On The Mexican Automotive Sector," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 155-176, December.
    12. Thirtle, C. & Bottomley, P., 1988. "Explaining Total Factor Productivity Change: Returns to R & D in U.K. Agricultural Research," Manchester Working Papers in Agricultural Economics 232809, University of Manchester, School of Economics, Agricultural Economics Department.
    13. Thirtle, Colin, 1986. "Problems in the Definition and Measurement of Technical Change and Productivity Growth in the U.K. Agricultural Sector," Manchester Working Papers in Agricultural Economics 232790, University of Manchester, School of Economics, Agricultural Economics Department.
    14. Robert Tatum, 2005. "Sustaining imperfectly credible trade liberalization: Do the rate of tariff reduction and the degree of labour mobility matter?," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 407-435.
    15. Richmond, J, 2000. "Separability and Specification Tests," Economics Discussion Papers 8832, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    16. repec:ilo:ilowps:250014 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Matsuyama, Kiminori, 2017. "Beyond CES: Three Alternative Classes of Flexible Homothetic Demand Systems," CEPR Discussion Papers 12210, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Marcus Noland, 1987. "Newly industrializing countries’ comparative advantage in manufactured goods," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 123(4), pages 679-696, December.
    19. Charlotte du Toit & Reneéa Koekemoer, 2003. "A Labour Model For South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 71(1), pages 49-76, March.
    20. Lange, Mark D. & Huffman, Wallace E., 1981. "Farm Household Production: Demand for Wife's Labor, Capital Services and the Capital-Labor Ratio," 1981 Annual Meeting, July 26-29, Clemson, South Carolina 279324, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    21. Jensen, Bjarne S. & Pedersen, Peder J. & Guest, Ross, 2022. "Demographic Changes, Labor Supplies, Labor Complementarities, Calendar Annual Wages of Age Groups, and Cohort Life Wage Incomes," IZA Discussion Papers 15127, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General
    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology

    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:ioe:doctra:226. 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: Jaime Casassus (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iepuccl.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.