IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/revpoe/v26y2014i1p60-84.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Aggregate Production Function: 'Not Even Wrong'

Author

Listed:
  • J. Felipe
  • J.S.L. McCombie

Abstract

The foundations of the aggregate production function were long ago thrown into doubt by problems of aggregation and the Cambridge capital theory controversies. Yet the aggregate production function, whether in the familiar form of the Cobb-Douglas, the CES, or the translog, continues to be widely used in both theoretical and applied analysis. The reason for its continued use rests on the instrumental position that 'it works'. The aggregate production function sometimes yields good statistical fits with plausible estimates of the coefficients. However, for some time, it has been realised that the existence of an underlying accounting identity can explain the regression results, even if the aggregate production function does not exist. This argument has been widely ignored. This paper, drawing on a rhetorical approach, assesses why this is the case. It shows that the few criticisms that have been made of the critique involve fundamental misunderstandings that represent a failure of the economic method.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Felipe & J.S.L. McCombie, 2014. "The Aggregate Production Function: 'Not Even Wrong'," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 60-84, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:26:y:2014:i:1:p:60-84
    DOI: 10.1080/09538259.2013.874192
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09538259.2013.874192
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09538259.2013.874192?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jesus Felipe & John S.L. McCombie, 2013. "The Aggregate Production Function and the Measurement of Technical Change," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1975.
    2. Kincaid, Harold & Ross, Don (ed.), 2009. "The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195189254.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:clr:wugarc:y:2016v:42i:03p:451 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Lewin, Peter & Cachanosky, Nicolás, 2018. "Substance and semantics: The question of capital," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 423-431.
    3. Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller, 2017. "The performativity of potential output: pro-cyclicality and path dependency in coordinating European fiscal policies," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(5), pages 904-928, September.
    4. Paul E. Brockway & Harry Saunders & Matthew K. Heun & Timothy J. Foxon & Julia K. Steinberger & John R. Barrett & Steve Sorrell, 2017. "Energy Rebound as a Potential Threat to a Low-Carbon Future: Findings from a New Exergy-Based National-Level Rebound Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, January.
    5. Heimberger, Philipp & Kapeller, Jakob & Schütz, Bernhard, 2017. "The NAIRU determinants: What’s structural about unemployment in Europe?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 883-908.
    6. Remzi Baris Tercioglu, 2020. "A sectoral approach to measuring output gap: Evidence from 20 US sectors over 1948-2019," Working Papers 2012, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2021.
    7. Philipp Heimberger, 2016. "Das "strukturelle Defizit" in der österreichischen Budgetpolitik: Berechnungsprobleme, Revisionen und wirtschaftspolitische Relevanz," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 42(3), pages 451-463.
    8. Pariboni, Riccardo & Girardi, Daniele, 2018. "A(nother) Note on the Inconsistency of Neo-Kaleckian Growth Models," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP31, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".
    9. Peter Lewin & Nicolás Cachanosky, 2018. "Value and capital: Austrian capital theory, retrospect and Prospect," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 1-26, March.
    10. Fazio, Giorgio & Piacentino, Davide, 2018. "Convergence analysis for hierarchical longitudinal data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 89-99.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John S.L. McCombie & Ioana Negru, 2014. "On economic paradigms, rhetoric and the micro-foundations of macroeconomics," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 11(1), pages 53-66, April.
    2. Santos, João & Domingos, Tiago & Sousa, Tânia & St. Aubyn, Miguel, 2016. "Does a small cost share reflect a negligible role for energy in economic production? Testing for aggregate production functions including capital, labor, and useful exergy through a cointegration-base," MPRA Paper 70850, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Araujo, Ricardo Azevedo & Santini, Theo & de Acypreste, Rafael, 2023. "A vertically integrated approach to increasing returns and cumulative causation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 49-58.
    4. Brendan Markey†Towler, 2017. "The Oxford Handbook of Post†Keynesian Economics, Volume 1: Theory and Origins," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(303), pages 659-661, December.
    5. Davis, John B., 2010. "Neuroeconomics: Constructing identity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 574-583, December.
    6. Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández, 2018. "Alternative Approaches to Technological Change when Growth is BoPC," Department of Economics University of Siena 795, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    7. Kamil Makieła & Błażej Mazur & Jakub Głowacki, 2022. "The Impact of Renewable Energy Supply on Economic Growth and Productivity," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-13, June.
    8. M. J. Dávila-Fernández & J. L. Oreiro & L. F. Punzo & S. Bimonte, 2017. ": Reinterpreting the fundamental contradiction of capitalism," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 168-182, April.
    9. Vladimir Gorbunov & Alexander Lvov, 2018. "Effective Production Funds and Production Functions of Regional Small Business," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(2), pages 502-515.
    10. D. Boccanfuso & L. Savard, 2012. "A Segmented Labour Supply Model Estimation for the Construction of a CGE Microsimulation Model: An Application to the Philippines," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 6(2), pages 211-234, May.
    11. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2020. "Does the form of the Aggregate Production Function Matter for Modelling Business Cycle Fluctuations? Lessons for Bulgaria (1999-2018)," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 18, pages 81-86.
    12. Joseph Halevi, 2016. "Luigi Pasinetti and the Political Economy of Growth and Distribution," Working Papers Series 40, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    13. Jacek Osiewalski & Justyna Wróblewska & Kamil Makieła, 2020. "Bayesian comparison of production function-based and time-series GDP models," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1355-1380, March.
    14. Daniel Navarro-Martinez & Graham Loomes & Andrea Isoni & David Butler & Larbi Alaoui, 2018. "Boundedly rational expected utility theory," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 199-223, December.
    15. Galbács Peter, 2021. "What did it take for Lucas to set up ‘useful’ analogue systems in monetary business cycle theory?," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 7(3), pages 61-82, September.
    16. Grüne-Yanoff, Till & Verreault-Julien, Philippe, 2021. "How-possibly explanations in economics: anything goes?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108622, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Bergolo, M. & Cruces, G., 2021. "The anatomy of behavioral responses to social assistance when informal employment is high," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    18. Гребнев М.И. & Шульц Д.Н., 2016. "Статистический Метод Агрегирования Производственных Функций," Журнал Экономика и математические методы (ЭММ), Центральный Экономико-Математический Институт (ЦЭМИ), vol. 52(2), pages 112-128, апрель.
    19. Marc Lavoie & Eckhard Hein, 2015. "Going from a low to a high employment equilibrium," IMK Working Paper 144-2015, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    20. Till van Treeck, 2015. "r>g: Why the ‘Piketty Debate’ Unsettles Germany’s Economic Experts," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 16(01), pages 26-34, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:26:y:2014:i:1:p:60-84. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CRPE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.