Factor substitution, factor-augmenting technical progress, and trending factor shares: the Canadian evidence

Kenneth Stewart and Jiang Li

No 1403, Econometrics Working Papers from Department of Economics, University of Victoria

Abstract: Revised productivity accounts recently released by Statistics Canada are used to estimate a Klump-McAdam-Willman normalized CES supply-side system for the half-century 1961–2010. The model permits distinct rates of factor-augmenting technical change for capital and labour that distinguish between short-term versus long-term effects, as well as a non-unitary elasticity of substitution and timevarying factor shares. The advantage of the Canadian data for this purpose is that they provide a unified treatment of measurement issues that have had to be improvised in the US and European data used by previous researchers. In contrast to the previous US results, we find an elasticity of substitution not significantly less than unity, and an absence of capital-augmenting technical change in both the short and long run. Technical change is thus solely labour augmenting, consistent with Uzawa’s steady state growth theorem. The model also yields plausible TFP estimates, and successfully captures trends in factor shares that have been the subject of recent study in international data.

Keywords: normalized CES system; aggregate elasticity of substitution; biased technical change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C51 E23 E25 O30 O51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2014-10-16
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-gro and nep-mac
Note: ISSN 1485-6441
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Are factor biases and substitution identifiable? The Canadian evidence (2018)
Working Paper: Are factor biases and substitution identifiable? The Canadian evidence (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vic:vicewp:1403

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