Investment Behavior in the U.S. Telephone Industry -- 1949 to 1968

This paper applies the econometric model of investment behavior developed in our earlier paper to the U.S. telephone industry. Utilizing annual data for the period 1949 to 1968, the author finds that the estimates of long-run elasticities of capital stock with respect to relative price and output are 0.51119 and 1.18225, respectively. However, the Cobb-Douglas specification of Jorgenson and Handel appears to be valid for this industry. In comparing the results for the telephone industry with those for the electric utility industry, substantial differences in technological characteristics and in the time form of lagged response of net investment are found.