Empirical Essays on the Elasticity of Substitution, Technical Change, and Economic Growth

elasticity of substitution;estimation;production theory

Pereira, Claudiney M ; John J. Seater, Committee Chair,Pereira, Claudiney M ; John J. Seater ; Committee Chair

University:North Carolina State University

关键词: elasticity of substitution;    estimation;    production theory;   

Others  :  https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/bitstream/handle/1840.16/4460/etd.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: null

【 摘 要 】

We estimate the elasticity of substitution using two different production functions. The usual Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) production function and a Box-Cox production function for Japan (1890-1991), UK (1870-1991), and US (1890-1992; 1929-2000). The main results are that we find the ES to be non-unitary and changing over time. Our findings have implications for economic growth (theoretical and empirical), as production is an increasing function of the ES. The use of a Cobb-Douglas production function, as in most cases in the literature, hides the role of the ES not only as a source of increase in output but also as a source of technical change. Also, we found in a monte carlo simulation that usual CES production usually does not give reliable estimates for the substitution parameter. Finally, using a CES to calculate TFP across countries, we found that variance of TFP is lower than using a Cobb-Douglas. It implies that the importance of TFP to explain income differences across countries is diminished.