Estimating Indirect Production Functions with a More General Specification: An Application of the Lewbel Model

Abstract

Whereas consumer theory employs several different empirical specifications for estimating indirect utility functions, producer theory has relied on the Translog specification to estimate the indirect production function. In this paper, we apply Lewbel's more general functional specification and investigate its implications for the estimation of indirect production functions in productivity analysis. An attractive feature of the Lewbel model is that it nests both the Translog and the almost ideal supply system, offering a method to assess the empirical validity of all three specifications. Aggregate U.S. production data are used to examine the performance of the three models in an empirical application.