IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uwo/hcuwoc/20202.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Prices, Profits, Proxies, and Production

Author

Abstract

This paper studies nonparametric identification and counterfactual bounds for heterogeneous firms that can be ranked in terms of productivity. Our approach works when quantities and prices are latent rendering standard approaches inapplicable. Instead, we require observation of profits or other optimizing-values such as costs or revenues, and either prices or price proxies of flexibly chosen variables. We extend classical duality results for price-taking firms to a setup with discrete heterogeneity, endogeneity, and limited variation in possibly latent prices. Finally, we show that convergence results for nonparametric estimators may be directly converted to convergence results for production sets.

Suggested Citation

  • Victor H. Aguiar & Roy Allen & Nail Kashaev, 2020. "Prices, Profits, Proxies, and Production," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 20202, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
  • Handle: RePEc:uwo:hcuwoc:20202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1151&context=economicscibc
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zvi Griliches & Jacques Mairesse, 1995. "Production Functions: The Search for Identification," NBER Working Papers 5067, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon, 2021. "The Production Function for Housing: Evidence from France," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(10), pages 2766-2816.
    3. Jan De Loecker & Pinelopi K. Goldberg & Amit K. Khandelwal & Nina Pavcnik, 2016. "Prices, Markups, and Trade Reform," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 445-510, March.
    4. Ivar Ekeland & James J. Heckman & Lars Nesheim, 2004. "Identification and Estimation of Hedonic Models," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(S1), pages 60-109, February.
    5. Stéphane Bonhomme & Elena Manresa, 2015. "Grouped Patterns of Heterogeneity in Panel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83(3), pages 1147-1184, May.
    6. Melitz, Marc J. & Redding, Stephen J., 2014. "Heterogeneous Firms and Trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-54, Elsevier.
    7. Afriat, Sidney N, 1972. "Efficiency Estimation of Production Function," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 13(3), pages 568-598, October.
    8. Klette, Tor Jakob & Griliches, Zvi, 1996. "The Inconsistency of Common Scale Estimators When Output Prices Are Unobserved and Endogenous," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(4), pages 343-361, July-Aug..
    9. Sims,Christopher A. (ed.), 1996. "Advances in Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521566094, December.
    10. Tong Li & Yuya Sasaki, 2017. "Constructive Identification of Heterogeneous Elasticities in the Cobb-Douglas Production Function," Papers 1711.10031, arXiv.org.
    11. Ulrich Doraszelski & Jordi Jaumandreu, 2018. "Measuring the Bias of Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(3), pages 1027-1084.
    12. Albouy, David & Ehrlich, Gabriel, 2018. "Housing productivity and the social cost of land-use restrictions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 101-120.
    13. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon, 2021. "The Production Function for Housing: Evidence from France," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(10), pages 2766-2816.
    14. Hiroaki Kaido & Andres Santos, 2014. "Asymptotically Efficient Estimation of Models Defined by Convex Moment Inequalities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 387-413, January.
    15. Debraj Ray & Arthur Robson, 2018. "Certified Random: A New Order for Coauthorship," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 489-520, February.
    16. Richard Blundell & Dennis Kristensen & Rosa Matzkin, 2017. "Individual counterfactuals with multidimensional unobserved heterogeneity," CeMMAP working papers 60/17, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    17. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman & Susanne M. Schennach, 2010. "Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(3), pages 883-931, May.
    18. Lau, Lawrence J, 1972. "Profit Functions of Technologies with Multiple Inputs and Outputs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 54(3), pages 281-289, August.
    19. Rosa L. Matzkin, 2003. "Nonparametric Estimation of Nonadditive Random Functions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1339-1375, September.
    20. Richard W. Blundell & Martin Browning & Ian A. Crawford, 2003. "Nonparametric Engel Curves and Revealed Preference," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(1), pages 205-240, January.
    21. Diewert, W. E., 1973. "Functional forms for profit and transformation functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 284-316, June.
    22. repec:dau:papers:123456789/6486 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    24. Kira R. Fabrizio & Nancy L. Rose & Catherine D. Wolfram, 2007. "Do Markets Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on US Electric Generation Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1250-1277, September.
    25. Dennis Epple & Brett Gordon & Holger Sieg, 2010. "A New Approach to Estimating the Production Function for Housing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 905-924, June.
    26. Andrews, Donald W.K., 2017. "Examples of L2-complete and boundedly-complete distributions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 199(2), pages 213-220.
    27. Matzkin, Rosa L, 1992. "Nonparametric and Distribution-Free Estimation of the Binary Threshold Crossing and the Binary Choice Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 239-270, March.
    28. Hiroaki Kaido & Francesca Molinari & Jörg Stoye, 2019. "Confidence Intervals for Projections of Partially Identified Parameters," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(4), pages 1397-1432, July.
    29. David M. Kreps, 2012. "Microeconomic Foundations I: Choice and Competitive Markets," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9890.
    30. Arie Beresteanu & Ilya Molchanov & Francesca Molinari, 2011. "Sharp Identification Regions in Models With Convex Moment Predictions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(6), pages 1785-1821, November.
    31. Hanoch, Giora & Rothschild, Michael, 1972. "Testing the Assumptions of Production Theory: A Nonparametric Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 256-275, March-Apr.
    32. Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram Rock & Kristof Witte, 2014. "Non‐parametric Analysis of Multi‐output Production with Joint Inputs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(577), pages 735-775, June.
    33. Yingyao Hu & Geert Ridder, 2010. "On Deconvolution as a First Stage Nonparametric Estimator," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 365-396.
    34. Arie Beresteanu & Francesca Molinari, 2008. "Asymptotic Properties for a Class of Partially Identified Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 76(4), pages 763-814, July.
    35. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    36. Khai Xiang Chiong & Alfred Galichon & Matt Shum, 2016. "Duality in dynamic discrete‐choice models," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 7(1), pages 83-115, March.
    37. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel (ed.), 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780444850133.
    38. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    39. Edward L. Glaeser & Joseph Gyourko & Raven E. Saks, 2005. "Why Have Housing Prices Gone Up?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 329-333, May.
    40. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel, 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications (I): The Theory of Production," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 1, number fuss1978.
    41. Roy Allen & John Rehbeck, 2019. "Identification With Additively Separable Heterogeneity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(3), pages 1021-1054, May.
    42. Varian, Hal R, 1982. "The Nonparametric Approach to Demand Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 945-973, July.
    43. Lopez, Marco & Still, Georg, 2007. "Semi-infinite programming," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 180(2), pages 491-518, July.
    44. Richard Blundell & Dennis Kristensen & Rosa Matzkin, 2017. "Individual counterfactuals with multidimensional unobserved heterogeneity," CeMMAP working papers CWP60/17, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    45. Christensen, Laurits R & Jorgenson, Dale W & Lau, Lawrence J, 1973. "Transcendental Logarithmic Production Frontiers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 55(1), pages 28-45, February.
    46. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel, 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications (II): Applications of the Theory of Production," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 2, number fuss1978a.
    47. Susanne M. Schennach, 2016. "Recent Advances in the Measurement Error Literature," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 341-377, October.
    48. Berger, Allen N. & Hancock, Diana & Humphrey, David B., 1993. "Bank efficiency derived from the profit function," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 317-347, April.
    49. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon, 2021. "The Production Function for Housing: Evidence from France," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(10), pages 2766-2816.
    50. Yuichi Kitamura & Louise Laage, 2018. "Nonparametric Analysis of Finite Mixtures," Papers 1811.02727, arXiv.org.
    51. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon, 2021. "The Production Function for Housing: Evidence from France," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(10), pages 2766-2816.
    52. Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock & Marijn Verschelde, 2018. "Nonparametric identification of unobserved technological heterogeneity in production," Working Paper Research 335, National Bank of Belgium.
    53. Hu, Yingyao & Schennach, Susanne M. & Shiu, Ji-Liang, 2017. "Injectivity of a class of integral operators with compactly supported kernels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 200(1), pages 48-58.
    54. Cherchye, Laurens & De Rock, Bram & Walheer, Barnabé, 2016. "Multi-output profit efficiency and directional distance functions," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 100-109.
    55. Peter Arcidiacono & Robert A. Miller, 2011. "Conditional Choice Probability Estimation of Dynamic Discrete Choice Models With Unobserved Heterogeneity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(6), pages 1823-1867, November.
    56. Roberts, Mark J. & Supina, Dylan, 1996. "Output price, markups, and producer size," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 909-921, April.
    57. Daniel Bilodeau & Pierre-Yves Crémieux & Pierre Ouellette, 2000. "Hospital Cost Function In A Non-Market Health Care System," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(3), pages 489-498, August.
    58. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon, 2021. "The Production Function for Housing: Evidence from France," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(10), pages 2766-2816.
    59. Victor Chernozhukov & Christian Hansen, 2005. "An IV Model of Quantile Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(1), pages 245-261, January.
    60. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon, 2021. "The Production Function for Housing: Evidence from France," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(10), pages 2766-2816.
    61. Paul L. E. Grieco & Ryan C. McDevitt, 2017. "Productivity and Quality in Health Care: Evidence from the Dialysis Industry," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 84(3), pages 1071-1105.
    62. Ulrich Doraszelski & Jordi Jaumandreu, 2013. "R&D and Productivity: Estimating Endogenous Productivity," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 80(4), pages 1338-1383.
    63. Jeremy T. Fox & Amit Gandhi, 2016. "Nonparametric identification and estimation of random coefficients in multinomial choice models," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 47(1), pages 118-139, February.
    64. Varian, Hal R, 1984. "The Nonparametric Approach to Production Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 579-597, May.
    65. Kaido, Hiroaki, 2016. "A dual approach to inference for partially identified econometric models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 192(1), pages 269-290.
    66. Whitney K. Newey & James L. Powell, 2003. "Instrumental Variable Estimation of Nonparametric Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1565-1578, September.
    67. Marshall Burke & Lauren Falcao Bergquist & Edward Miguel, 2019. "Sell Low and Buy High: Arbitrage and Local Price Effects in Kenyan Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 134(2), pages 785-842.
    68. Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram Rock & Kristof Witte, 2014. "Non‐parametric Analysis of Multi‐output Production with Joint Inputs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(577), pages 735-775, June.
    69. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon, 2021. "The Production Function for Housing: Evidence from France," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(10), pages 2766-2816.
    70. Charalambos D. Aliprantis & Kim C. Border, 2006. "Infinite Dimensional Analysis," Springer Books, Springer, edition 0, number 978-3-540-29587-7, December.
    71. ZELLNER, Arnold & KMENTA, Jan & DREZE, Jacques H., 1966. "Specification and estimation of Cobb-Douglas production function models," LIDAM Reprints CORE 12, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    72. Sims,Christopher A. (ed.), 1996. "Advances in Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521566100, December.
    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. Florian Gunsilius, 2019. "A path-sampling method to partially identify causal effects in instrumental variable models," Papers 1910.09502, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2020.

    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. Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock & Marijn Verschelde, 2018. "Nonparametric Production Analysis with Unobserved Heterogeneity in Productivity," Working Papers ECARES 2018-25, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock & Cédric Duprez & Glenn Magerman & Marijn Verschelde, 2021. "Structural Identification of Productivity under Biased Technological Change∗," Working Papers ECARES 2021-28, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock & Marijn Verschelde, 2018. "Nonparametric identification of unobserved technological heterogeneity in production," Working Paper Research 335, National Bank of Belgium.
    4. Tan, Ya & Wang, Zhi & Zhang, Qinghua, 2020. "Land-use regulation and the intensive margin of housing supply," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    5. Bonnet, Odran & Chapelle, Guillaume & Trannoy, Alain & Wasmer, Etienne, 2021. "Land is back, it should be taxed, it can be taxed," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    6. Odran Bonnet & Guillaume Chapelle & Alain Trannoy & Etienne Wasmer, 2019. "Secular Trends in Wealth and Heterogeneous Capital: Land is Back... and Should Be Taxed," Sciences Po publications 2019-14, Sciences Po.
    7. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/56k383m9o9kpb1g6f8rvv74ok is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Furth, Salim, 2021. "Foundations and Microfoundations: Building Houses on Regulated Land," Working Papers 10752, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    9. Odran Bonnet & Guillaume Chapelle & Alain Trannoy & Etienne Wasmer, 2019. "Secular Trends in Wealth and Heterogeneous Capital: Land is Back... and Should Be Taxed," Sciences Po Economics Discussion Papers 2019-14, Sciences Po Departement of Economics.
    10. Michael D. Eriksen & Anthony W. Orlando, 2022. "Returns to Scale in Residential Construction: The Marginal Impact of Building Height," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(2), pages 534-564, June.
    11. Odran Bonnet & Guillaume Flamerie de la Chapelle & Alain Trannoy & Etienne Wasmer, 2019. "Secular trends in Wealth and Heterogeneous Capital: Land is back...and should be taxed," SciencePo Working papers hal-03541411, HAL.
    12. Bruno Merlevede & Angelos Theodorakopoulos, 2018. "Productivity Effects of Internationalisation Through the Domestic Supply Chain: Evidence from Europe," Working Papers of VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics 627689, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics.
    13. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1eob9f9aas9q18hfjsiqhggvi2 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Maican, Florin & Orth, Matilda, 2021. "Determinants of economies of scope in retail," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    15. Odran Bonnet & Guillaume Chapelle & Alain Trannoy & Etienne Wasmer, 2019. "Secular Trends in Wealth and Heterogeneous Capital: Land is Back... and Should Be Taxed," Sciences Po publications 2019-14, Sciences Po.
    16. Albouy, David & Shin, Minchul, 2022. "A statistical learning approach to land valuation: Optimizing the use of external information," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    17. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/1eob9f9aas9q18hfjsiqhggvi2 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Laurens Cherchye & Bram De Rock & Annalisa Ferrando & Klaas Mulier & Marijn Verschelde, 2018. "Identifying Financial Constraints from Production Data," Working Papers ECARES 2018-31, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Morgan Ubeda, 2020. "Local Amenities, Commuting Costs and Income Disparities Within Cities," Working Papers halshs-03082448, HAL.
    20. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon, 2012. "The Cost of Agglomeration: Land Prices in Cities," Sciences Po publications 9240, Sciences Po.
    21. Löffler, Max & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2015. "Property Taxation, Local Labor Markets and Rental Housing," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112967, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    22. Cherchye, Laurens & De Rock, Bram & Hennebel, Veerle, 2014. "The economic meaning of Data Envelopment Analysis: A ‘behavioral’ perspective," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 29-37.
    23. Victor Aguirregabiria & Margaret Slade, 2017. "Empirical models of firms and industries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(5), pages 1445-1488, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    counterfacutal bounds; cost minimization; nonseparable heterogeneity; partial identification; profif maximization; production set; revenue maximization; shape restrictions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C5 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

    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:uwo:hcuwoc:20202. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://nest.uwo.ca/chcp/research/working_papers.html .

    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: (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://nest.uwo.ca/chcp/research/working_papers.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.