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The measurement of labour content: a general approach

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  • Yoshihara, Naoki
  • Veneziani, Roberto

Abstract

This paper analyses the theoretical issues related to the measurement of labour content for general technologies with heterogeneous labour. A novel axiomatic framework is used in order to formulate the key properties of the notion of labour content and analyse its theoretical foundations. The main measures of labour content used in various strands of the literature are then characterised. Quite surprisingly, a unique axiomatic structure can be identified which underlies measures of labour aggregates used in such diverse fields as neoclassical growth theory, input-output approaches, productivity analysis, and classical political economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Yoshihara, Naoki & Veneziani, Roberto, 2017. "The measurement of labour content: a general approach," Discussion Paper Series 663, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:hituec:663
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    Cited by:

    1. Veneziani, Roberto & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2014. "One Million Miles to Go: Taking the Axiomatic Road to Defining Exploitation," Discussion Paper Series 615, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Yoshihara, Naoki, 2014. "A Progressive Report on Marxian Economic Theory: On the Controversies in Exploitation Theory since Okishio (1963)," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2014-12, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    3. Tapan Mitra & Kemal Ozbek, 2021. "Ranking by weighted sum," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 72(2), pages 511-532, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labour content; labour productivity; technical change; axiomatic analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D57 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Input-Output Tables and Analysis
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • D46 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Value Theory

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