Studies of the firm's demand for factor inputs often assume a constant rate of utilization of the inputs and ignore the fact that the firm can simultaneously choose the level and the rate of utilization of its inputs. In particular, the literature on dynamic factor demand models has, until...

In this paper we discuss recent advances in modeling and estimating dynamic factor demand models, and review the use of such models in analyzing the production structure, the determinants of variable and quasi-fixed factors, and productivity growth. The paper also discusses the traditional...

Demand for less skilled workers decreased dramatically in the US and in other developed countries over the past two decades. We argue that pervasive skill-biased technological change rather than increased trade with the developing world is the principal culprit. The pervasiveness of this...

We estimate and compare the production structures of the US, Japanese, and Korean total manufacturing sectors for the 1974-1990 period. We employ a translog variable cost function that includes such inputs as labor, materials, physical and R&D capital with the physical and R&D capital treated as...

In this paper we construct a short run model of the firm describing the behavior of thirteen U.S. airlines during the difficult transition to deregulation. Several modeling scenarios are developed to assess three common assumptions in cost studies: the use of time as a proxy for technological...

The purpose of this paper is to develop and estimate a model of production with endogenous technological change. Technological change arises from R&D capital accumulation decisions. These decisions respond to market and government incentives and generate R&D capital spillovers. A spillover...

The paper analyzes the production structure and the demand for inputs in three major industrialized countries, the U.S., Japan and Germany. A dynamic factor demand model with two variable inputs (labor and energy)and two quasi-fixed inputs (capital and R&D) is derived directly from an...

In this paper an attempt is made to answer two questions:1) What set of factors explains the recent slowdown of the U.S. aggregate labor productivity, and 2) whether the same set of forces account for the slowdown of sectoral productivity growth as well. We specify a model which relates measured...

The objectives of this preliminary study are threefold. The first is to analyze empirically the production structure of the Bell System at the aggregate level. Particular attention is focused on the pattern of substitution among the factor inputs and the degree to which the aggregate production...

In this paper, we examine the sources of the productivity growth in the U.S. computer industry from 1978 to 1999. We estimate a joint production model of output quantity and quality that distinguishes two types of technological changes: process and product innovations. Based on the estimation...