In this paper, we argue at a general level, that recent economic models of capacity and of its utilization are deficient because they do not adequately take into account firms' long-run expectations about conditions which are pertinent to their investment decisions, i.e., their decisions about...

The importance and usefulness of establishment microdata for economic research and policy analysis is outlined and contrasted with traditional products of statistical agencies -- aggregate cross-section tabulations. It is argued that statistical agencies must begin to seriously rethink the way...

Establishment reclassification occurs when an establishment classified in one industry in one year is reclassified into another industry in another year. Because of survey design rules at the Census Bureau these reclassifications occur systematically over time, and affect the industry-level time...

Because of the dramatic decline in the United States Trade Balance since the early 1970's, many economists and policy makers have become increasingly concerned about the ability of U.S. manufacturers to compete with foreign producers. Initially concern was limited to a few basic industries such...

This paper examines the relationship between the use of advanced technologies and productivity and productivity growth rates. We use data from the 1993 and 1988 Survey of Manufacturing Technology (SMT) to examine the use of advanced (computer based) technologies at two different points in time....

This paper presents a view of firm performance, industry evolution, and economic growth that contrasts with the traditional representative firm model. The paper reviews recent empirical work, primarily studies using the Longitudinal Research Database (LRD), that explicitly focuses on individual...

A primary responsibility of the Center for Economic Studies (CES) of the U.S. Bureau of the Census is to facilitate researcher access to confidential economic microdata files. Benefits from this program accrue not only to policy makers--there is a growing awareness of the importance of microdata...

Nguyen and Reznek (1991) used plant-level data for five 4-digit SIC industries to estimate and compare the degrees of returns-to-scale for establishments of various size classes for the years 1977 and 1982. They found that the estimated scale elasticities of all plant sizes have values...

We use micro data for 10,412 U.S. manufacturing plants to estimate the degrees of factor substitution by industry and by plant size. We find that (1) capital, labor, energy and materials are substitutes in production, and (2) the degrees of substitution among inputs are quite similar across...

The importance and usefulness of establishment microdata for economic research and policy analysis is outlined and contrasted with traditional establishment-based products of statistical agencies--aggregate cross-section tabulations. Using examples of research and analysis conducted at the U.S....