This paper explores the evolution of the average wage of employees over the life-cycle of a manufacturing plant. The average wage starts out low for a new plant and increases along with labor productivity as the plant ages. As a plant approaches exit, its average wage falls, but more slowly than...

We assess the cost reducing impacts of increasing stocks of "high-tech" equipment (O capital). Our empirical analysis is based on a dynamic production theory model and annual data for two-digit U.S. manufacturing industries (1952-1991). We find evidence of overinvestment in O capital in the mid...

This study is framed against the increasingly stringent environmental demands on the pulp and paper industry since the late-1980s to reduce water and air pollution, and the global economic slowdown of the early-1990s. The primary focus of this paper is an observation-based analysis conducted by...

For the last 50 years, the United States has been the leading supplier of LCA to the world. Changes in the structure of the global LCA industry and its market may ultimately affect the U.S. industry’s continued dominance, as competition increases and aspiring producers seek to enter the...

We examine whether reductions in foreign country statutory corporate tax rates affect the competitive environment of U.S. domestic manufacturing firms and how U.S. firms respond. We develop a measure of U.S. domestic firms' exposure to changes in foreign country corporate tax rates and find U.S....

This paper documents the extent and characteristics of plants and firms in the US that are outside the manufacturing sector according to official government statistics but nonetheless are heavily involved in activities related to the production of manufactured goods. Using new data on...

"Factoryless" manufacturers, as defined by the U.S. OMB, perform underlying entrepreneurial components of arranging the factors of production but outsource all of the actual transformation activities to other specialized units. This paper describes efforts to measure "factoryless" manufacturing...

The dynamic duality econometric approach with the case of multiple outputs is applied to the US cigarette manufacturing industry to test for the presence of adjustment costs and quasi-fixed inputs with regard to stocks of capital and tobacco. Capital and tobacco stocks are found to be...

This paper documents the extent and characteristics of plants and firms in the US that are outside the manufacturing sector according to official government statistics but nonetheless are heavily involved in activities related to the production of manufactured goods. Using new data on...

This paper analyzes the use of two important human resource practices self-managed work teams and formal training programs) in U.S. manufacturing. These practices are often used in conjunction with each other and their use is associated with improved firm performance, thus the term "high...