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That elusive elasticity and the ubiquitous bias: Is panel data a panacea?

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  • Smith, James

Abstract

There is often assumed to be a unit elasticity of substitution between capital and labour. But estimates based on neoclassical capital demand equations frequently find a smaller value. Recent time-series work for the United States and Canada has suggested that, once the biases inherent in estimating cointegrating vectors are properly accounted for, the elasticity could indeed be close to 1. We investigate this possibility for the United Kingdom. First we use aggregate data and find that the estimated elasticity is in the neighbourhood of 0.4. We then exploit a unique industry-level dataset for the United Kingdom to try and further pinpoint our estimates. Estimates using dynamic panel data methods are close to our benchmark estimate using aggregate data, providing a robust statistical rejection of a unit elasticity in UK data.

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  • Smith, James, 2008. "That elusive elasticity and the ubiquitous bias: Is panel data a panacea?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 760-779, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jmacro:v:30:y:2008:i:2:p:760-779
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    6. Sebastian Gechert & Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova & Dominika Kolcunova, 2022. "Measuring Capital-Labor Substitution: The Importance of Method Choices and Publication Bias," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 45, pages 55-82, July.
    7. Sumera Anis & Abdul Rashid, 2017. "Optimal Bank Capital And Impact Of The Mm Theorem: A Study Of The Pakistani Financial Sector," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(02), pages 1-21, June.
    8. Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana & Gechert, Sebastian & Kolcunova, Dominika, 2019. "Death to the Cobb-Douglas Production Function? A Meta-Analysis of the Capital-Labor Substitution Elasticity," MetaArXiv 6um5g, Center for Open Science.
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    11. Junge, Georg & Kugler, Peter, 2017. "Optimal equity capital requirements for Swiss G-SIBs," Working papers 2017/11, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    12. Sebastian Gechert & Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova & Dominika Kolcunova, 2019. "Death to the Cobb-Douglas Production Function," Working Papers IES 2019/26, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Sep 2019.
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    14. Gechert, Sebastian & Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana & Kolcunova, Dominika, 2019. "Death to the Cobb-Douglas Production Function? A Quantitative Survey of the Capital-Labor Substitution Elasticity," EconStor Preprints 203136, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Jane Gravelle, 2010. "Economic Effects of Investment Subsidies," Chapters, in: Iris Claus & Norman Gemmell & Michelle Harding & David White (ed.), Tax Reform in Open Economies, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
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    20. Sebastian Gechert & Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova & Dominika Kolcunova, 2022. "Measuring Capital-Labor Substitution: The Importance of Method Choices and Publication Bias," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 45, pages 55-82, July.

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