This paper describes patterns of factor utilization and output adjustment at the plant level for a wide range of manufacturing industries. We explain why manufacturing plants may differ quite a bit in how they accomplish output adjustments, depending on shutdown cost aspects of technology....

Policymakers and economic analysts have recently been concerned about potential inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy. Various economic statistics show the amount of unused productive resources has been diminishing. For example, the civilian unemployment rate has decreased and the capacity...

A review of the theoretical and empirical relationship between capacity utilization and inflation, employing a two-equation structural model that does not suffer from simultaneity bias and that appears to be stable over time.

Over the last 35 years, the U.S. economy has created service sector jobs at a faster pace than manufacturing sector jobs. Not only has this trend led to a significant shift in the composition of the labor force from manufacturing to services, but it has also fundamentally changed the...

Manufacturing is a major force in the Tenth District economy, accounting for the largest share of output in the region and one of the largest shares of employment. Moreover, many manufacturing jobs are among the highest paying jobs in the district. Yet little information is available to track...