Topics in Production Theory (Scandinavian Journal of Economics)

This volume is devoted to current topics in production theory. The papers are organized under four headings. Part I deals with technical change. Jorgenson reports on econometric research on production functions for a large number of production sectors as part of a general equilibrium model of an economy. F(Jrsund and Jansen focus on one industrial sector and study structural and technical change within the Norwegian aluminum industry, using Leif Johansens's concept of a short-run industry function. Kopp and Smith measure the effects of technical change on an even more disaggregated level. Two large-scale process analysis models provide a description of the production technology with the possibility of applying six specific process innovations. Baumol and Wolff outline a model which takes into account not only the contributions of R & D to the rate of growth of an economy's productivity, but also the likelihood that there is a relationship in the other direction. Part II is devoted to efficiency. Diewert uses a comparative static framework and duality theory to characterize two measures of the loss to the economy brought about by distortions in the resource allocation in the production sector. Fiire, Grosskopf and Lovell start out from Farrell's measure of productive efficiency and study nonparametric measurements of efficiency under less restrictive assumptions on technology. The papers in Part III deal with aggregation, quasi-fixed factors and cost of adjustment. Epstein addresses the problem of aggregating quasi-fixed factors in the context of an adjustment-cost model. Blackorby and Schwarm investigate the conditions under which -in adjustment-cost modelsaggregates for heterogeneous capital and investment exist for individual firms and the conditions under which the sum of wealth functions over firms depends only on aggregate capital. Pindyck and Rotemberg model the industrial demand for structures, equipment and blue-and white-collar labor in a manner consistent with rational expectations and stochastic dynamic optimization in the presence of adjustment costs. Brown and Greenberg investigate the conditions under which the Divisia index of total factor productivity for all production units is path independent within a general equilibrium framework. Other aspects of production theory are present in Part IV. Vislie analyzes the optimal use of inputs for producing goods which take a long time to complete, when prices of inputs may change at some unknown future date. Bosworth and Pugh deal with the degree of capital utilization. In particular, increased utilization results in more rapid depreciation of the capital stock. Hamlin and Heathfield analyze consequences of the rate of profit being the maximand for a firm and examine ex ante employment, investment and shiftwork decisions in a putty-clay model when output and prices are given. Mizon and Nickell present estimates of a vintage production model for the U.K., with the aim of discovering whether it is possible to explain satisfactorily the output of manufacturing industries as a simple, stable function of a small number of input aggregates. Front Matter....Pages i-vi Modeling Production for General Equilibrium Analysis....Pages 1-12 Technical Progress and Structural Change in the Norwegian Primary Aluminum Industry....Pages 13-26 Neoclassical Modeling of Nonneutral Technological Change: An Experimental Appraisal....Pages 27-46 Feedback from Productivity Growth to R & D....Pages 47-57 The Measurement of Waste within the Production Sector of an Open Economy....Pages 59-79 The Structure of Technical Efficiency....Pages 81-90 Aggregating Quasi-fixed Factors....Pages 91-105 Aggregating Heterogeneous Capital Goods in Adjustment-cost Technologies....Pages 107-122 Dynamic Factor Demands under Rational Expectations....Pages 123-138 The Divisia Index of Technological Change, Path Independence and Endogenous Prices....Pages 139-147 On the Dynamics of Production under Cost Uncertainty....Pages 149-166 Production and Maintenance: Joint Activities of the Firm....Pages 167-182 Shiftwork and the Choice of Technique under Alternative Maximands....Pages 183-194 Vintage Production Models of U.K. Manufacturing Industry....Pages 195-210