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Direct and Indirect Measures of Capacity Utilization: A Nonparametric Analysis of U.S. Manufacturing

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  • Subhash C. Ray

    (University of Connecticut)

  • Kankana Mukherjee

    (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)

  • Yanna Wu

    (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP)

Abstract

We measure the capacity output of a firm as the maximum amount producible by a firm given a specific quantity of the quasi-fixed input and an overall expenditure constraint for its choice of variable inputs. We compute this indirect capacity utilization measure for the total manufacturing sector in the US as well as for a number of disaggregated industries, for the period 1970-2001. We find considerable variation in capacity utilization rates both across industries and over years within industries. Our results suggest that the expenditure constraint was binding, especially in periods of high interest rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Subhash C. Ray & Kankana Mukherjee & Yanna Wu, 2005. "Direct and Indirect Measures of Capacity Utilization: A Nonparametric Analysis of U.S. Manufacturing," Working papers 2005-36, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:uct:uconnp:2005-36
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Berndt, Ernst R & Morrison, Catherine J, 1981. "Capacity Utilization Measures: Underlying Economic Theory and an Alternative Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 48-52, May.
    2. Jim Levinsohn & Wendy Petropoulos, 2001. "Creative Destruction or Just Plain Destruction?: The U.S. Textile and Apparel Industries since 1972," NBER Working Papers 8348, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Nelson, Randy A, 1989. "On the Measurement of Capacity Utilization," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3), pages 273-286, March.
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    5. J. M. Cassels, 1937. "Excess Capacity and Monopolistic Competition," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 51(3), pages 426-443.
    6. H. Kim, 1999. "Economic Capacity Utilization and its Determinants: Theory and Evidence," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 15(4), pages 321-339, December.
    7. Morrison, Catherine J, 1985. "Primal and Dual Capacity Utilization: An Application to Productivity Measurement in the U.S. Automobile Industry," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 3(4), pages 312-324, October.
    8. Lawrence R. Klein, 1958. "The Measurement of Capacity," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 49, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
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    Cited by:

    1. Briec, Walter & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Prior, Diego & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2010. "Tangency capacity notions based upon the profit and cost functions: A non-parametric approach and a general comparison," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1156-1166, September.
    2. Zhuo-wan Liu & Tomas Balezentis & Yao-yao Song & Guo-liang Yang, 2019. "Estimating Capacity Utilization of Chinese State Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-29, September.
    3. Kwon, He-Boong & Lee, Jooh, 2019. "Exploring the differential impact of environmental sustainability, operational efficiency, and corporate reputation on market valuation in high-tech-oriented firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 1-14.
    4. Bruno De Borger & Kristiaan Kerstens & Diego Prior & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2013. "Static efficiency decompositions and capacity utilization: integrating economic and technical capacity notions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(24), pages 3529-3529, August.
    5. Yao-yao Song & Xian-tong Ren & Guo-liang Yang, 2023. "Capacity utilization change over time," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 61-78, February.
    6. Salnikov, Vladimir & Galimov, Dmitry & Mikheeva, Olga & Gnidchenko, Andrey & Rybalka, Alexey, 2017. "Russian manufacturing production capacity: Primary trends and structural characteristics," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 240-262.
    7. Kamel HELALI & Maha KALAI, 2013. "Direct and indirect measures of capacity utilization and Economic growth: A nonparametric analysis of the Tunisian industry," E3 Journal of Business Management and Economics., E3 Journals, vol. 4(6), pages 144-155.
    8. Arnab Deb, 2013. "Economic Reforms, Capacity Utilization, and Productivity Growth in Indian Manufacturing," Alumni working papers 2013-05, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    9. Dale Squires & Kathleen Segerson, 2022. "Capacity and Capacity Utilization in Production Economics," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 24, pages 1001-1037, Springer.
    10. Ray, Subhash C., 2015. "Nonparametric measures of scale economies and capacity utilization: An application to U.S. manufacturing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 245(2), pages 602-611.
    11. Maha Kalai, 2019. "Nonparametric Measures of Capacity Utilization of the Tunisian Manufacturing Industry: Short- and Long-Run Dual Approach," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 318-334, March.
    12. Sudipto Sarkar, 2009. "A real-option rationale for investing in excess capacity," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 119-133.
    13. Walter Briec & Kristiaan Kerstens & Diego Prior, 2009. "Tangency Capacity Notions Based upon the Pro?t and Cost Functions: A Non-Parametric Approach and a Comparison," Working Papers 2009-ECO-05, IESEG School of Management.
    14. Arnab K. Deb, 2014. "Economic Reforms, Capacity Utilization and Productivity Growth in Indian Manufacturing," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 15(4), pages 719-746, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Data envelopment analysis; expenditure constraint; indirect production function;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • L6 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing

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