Generalized Leontief Cost Function Research Articles

Invariant Risk Preferences and Supply Response under Price Risk

We develop a supply‐response model for producers with invariant preferences facing price risk and apply it empirically to sample data from Cretan olive‐oil producers. We estimate a Generalized Leontief cost function and use the price distribution historically faced by individual farmers to induce different representations of price risk that are consistent with the invariant preference structure. These different risk measures are combined with the estimated cost structure to provide distinct estimates of the risk‐efficient frontier faced by a representative producer with invariant risk preferences and to derive estimates of producer's generalized coefficients of risk aversion for different measures of price risk.

Fuel switching and climate and energy policies in the European power generation sector: A generalized Leontief model

The purpose of this paper is to analyze: (a) the role and the nature of price-induced switching behavior between fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, and natural gas) in the western European power sector; as well as (b) the fuel choice impacts of a number of public policies implemented in this sector during the last 20years. The analysis is conducted within a Generalized Leontief cost function framework, and employs pooled data across eight countries over the time period 1978–2004. We present short-run own- and cross-price elasticities of fossil fuel demand, and assess the impacts of a set of government policies implemented over this time period. The empirical results show evidence of notable short-run interfuel substitution between oil and gas, and particularly in countries where fossil fuels are used extensively for both base and peak load purposes. These findings support the notion that ex post fossil fuel substitution takes place in dual- and multi-fired plants, by switching load between different single-fuel fired plants, as well as through the conversion of power plants to be able to burn alternate fuels. The results also illustrate that different public policies – i.e., removal of coal subsidies, electricity market liberalization etc. – have had profound impacts on fossil fuel choices and have in particular favored power generation gas use at the expense of coal. Finally, the paper makes use of the empirical results to simulate the fuel switching impacts of different carbon prices within the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).

A multi-product cost function for physician private practices

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the production of physician services using a multi-product cost function. Prior studies examine the physician production process in a theoretical setting and do not provide empirical insight. We expand upon the theoretical work in the literature by specifying a four-product generalized Leontief cost function for physician services that recovers measures of marginal cost, scale, scope, and elasticity. Our study is based on physician survey data from the 1998 American Medical Association Physician Socioeconomic Monitoring Survey and motivates a scientific framework for advancing the existing reimbursement fee schedule. Our analysis indicates that physician office visits are generally priced above marginal cost, implying there may be evidence of market power in physician private practices. Furthermore, our analysis lends to the policy debate over whether the use of a Resource-Based Relative Value Scale system is the most appropriate mechanism for facilitating Medicare reimbursements.

How Variable is Labor Input in the Italian Manufacturing: The Case of the Pharmaceutical Industry

The aim of this paper is to study the labor demand in the Italian manufacturing, using firm level data on pharmaceutical industry. The Italian pharmaceutical industry is characterized by the existence of long term labor contracts, and this fact suggests to consider labor as quasi-fixed input. In order to characterize firms’ behavior we base our analysis on the restricted Generalized Leontief cost function. The choice of this flexible functional form is due to its ability to capture the input substitution patterns in presence of more than one quasi-fixed input. Therefore demand and substitution elasticities are estimated with respect to two different theoretical models: the first, QFI(1), with capital as quasi-fixed input and the second, QFI(2), with two quasi-fixed inputs, capital and labor. The choice among the two alternative specifications is based on an elasticity comparison criterion, since the two models are not nested. Our results confirm the a priori on the labor market rigidity and point out the high heterogeneity between the firms, even controlling for size and nationality.

Economies of scale in global iron-making

In this paper, we investigate the presence of economies of scale in the global iron-making industry for integrated steel plants, iron making being the first stage in the steel-making process. Iron making depends on basic commodities, such as iron ore, coke and various forms of energy, required in the operation of the blast furnace, which can be classified as essential inputs and used in fixed proportions to produce iron. A generalized Leontief cost function is estimated using panel data for 69 integrated plants, such a specification being appropriate for technologies with essential inputs that are used in fixed proportions in production. A significant scale effect is observed due to the existence of fixed costs and a linear dependence of the cost function on production. Under a simple linear cost function, a rough estimate of the breakeven scale of plant, where costs equal revenue, is 4.5 Mt per year. Competitiveness, as measured by the ratio of plant average cost per tonne to best practice cost per tonne, can be shown to be positively related to the scale of production as well as the cost of essential inputs. Therefore, low-cost producers are also often producers with low raw material costs and production levels below the estimated breakeven scale of operation. Labor costs, although significant, are comparatively less important as a driver towards low costs.

Optimal Vessel Quotas and Capacity of a Danish Trawler Fleet Segment: A Dual Approach

In the period of investigation, 1995-2000, the Danish fishery for species meant for human consumption was managed by individual non-transferable vessel quotas, while the fishery for species meant for fishmeal and fish oil was subject to a total quota. The revenues of the fishermen targeting species for human consumption are therefore fixed on the assumption that they are price takers, and that they will maximize profits by minimizing their costs. To model the economic behaviour of the fishermen in terms of the optimal quota size per vessel and optimal fleet size, a dual cost-function approach is an appropriate choice. This method is applied using a generalized Leontief cost function to model the behaviour of the Danish fleet of trawlers below 50 GRT, targeting species for human consumption solely. The estimated cost function is used to determine the optimal quotas yielding: (i) minimum average cost and (ii) maximum profit. The results of the estimations show that the optimal quotas per vessel should be in...

Foreign Outsourcing, Labour Demand and the Choice of Functional Form

Elasticity of the demand for low-skilled and high-skilled labour in the European Union with respect to foreign outsourcing is estimated, using alternative flexible cost functions. The choice of functional form is apparently not immaterial, as different forms can lead to conflicting conclusions. Tests that can help to discriminate between different forms of functional specification show that a traditional generalized Leontief cost function is often rejected in favour of a minflex Laurent generalized Leontief cost function. Overall, the estimation results show that foreign outsourcing had a significant impact on the demand for low-skilled and high-skilled workers in the sample period. The pattern is however industry- specific and suggests, in line with some recent theoretical models, an ambiguous relationship between outsourcing and labour demand. There is some evidence that high-skilled labour and capital are (relative) complements.

Prices and factor demand in an endogenized input–output model

This paper combines factor demand functions (for intermediate input and labour) and price equations (derived from a Generalized Leontief cost function) with the traditional input–output price model. The cost functions determine factor demands for materials and labour as well as output prices at given input prices. At the second level of aggregation, the intermediate demand as a single input is split proportional to the elements in the column of the technical coefficients matrix. The emphasis in this endogenization of technical coefficients is on two features. First, the repercussion of output on input prices, and, second, the link between the econometric model for the supply side and the input–output demand model.

Impact of public capital on the manufacturing productive performance of Japanese industries

The paper analyses the impact of public capital on the Japanese manufacturing industries from 1970 to 1995. Unlike previous studies, which are based mostly on economy-wide analysis, this study is based on a disaggregated analysis at the industry level. A Generalized Leontief cost function is utilized to estimate the impact of public capital on nine manufacturing industries in Japan. The results indicate that public capital offers no insignificant contribution to the productive performance of these manufacturing industries except for Paper, Textiles and Transport. The paper also suggests that the bubble economy in the 1980s is the contributing factor behind this insignificant effect of public capital.

New Technologies And The Demand For Heterogeneous Labor: Firm-Level Evidence For The German Business-Related Service Sector

This paper investigates the impact of modern information and communication technologies on the demand for heterogeneous labor. It starts with an interrelated factor demand system. The ‘desired’ level of employment which is needed in such models, is derived from a Generalized Leontief cost function with quasi-fixed factors. Firm-level, cross-sectional data taken from an innovation survey in the service sector are used in the empirical analysis. The model is estimated by a trivariate ordered probit model. Evidence in favor of skill-biased technological change in the fast-growing German business-related services sector is found. ‘Ibe paper suggests a new method of calculating skill-specific and firm-specific labor cost from information on total labor cost and the share of each skill group in total employment only.

Environmental Regulations and Interfuel Substitution in the Power Sector: A Generalized Leontief Model

This paper analyzes short-run interfuel substitution between fossil fuels in West European power generation, and the impact of SO2 regulations on fossil fuel choices. These problems are studied within a short-run Generalized Leontief cost function. The empirical results indicate that price-induced interfuel substitution in existing power plants is substantial in West Europe, especially that between oil and gas. This is consistent with the notion that short-run fuel substitution primarily occurs in multi-fired plants, by switching load between different single-fired plants, and/or by converting power plants to be able to burn alternate fuels as well. With regard to the impact of the SO2 regulations, the empirical investigation provides few conclusive answers. In general it is hard to separate the individual effects of the SO2 regulations on the one hand, and other fuel affecting policies on the other. Still, during the last 20 years the aggregate effect of public energy policies seems to have been coal and gas promoting and oil discouraging.

The Bias in Price Elasticity Estimates Under Separability Between Electricity and Labor in Studies of Time-of-Use Electricity

Most time-of-use(TOU) studies of electricity use in the business sector have found little overall response, as measured by price elasticities, to TOU rates. These studies employed the assumption of weak separability between electricity and all other inputs. Here, we use the generalized Leontief cost function to show that when labor is included in the estimation, the electricity price elasticities are larger, in absolute values, than when labor is erroneously excluded. This result is demonstrated with data on electricity and labor for about 400 Israeli business customers. We also show that the omission of labor from the estimation may cause serious underestimation of the net welfare gains that result from changing a flat electricity price to a TOU rate.

Trade liberalization and capacity utilization: New evidence from the Turkish rubber industry

This study empirically tests the hypothesis that trade liberalization increases capacity utilization. It calculates capacity utilization for the Turkish rubber industry by using a production theory framework. More specifically, plant-level capacity utilization levels are calculated using a Generalized Leontief cost function system. Capacity utilization levels were low but improved when the trade regime shifted from a restrictive to a more liberalized one. The size and location of plants were two significant factors which created capacity utilization differences within the industry. However, capacity utilization levels appeared to improve primarily because of trade liberalization.

Pig iron production structure in Japan

Japan is the world's largest steel producing country, and around half of its total input requirements for coking coal and iron ore are sourced from Australia. Moreover, around half of Australia's total coking coal and iron ore exports go to Japan each year. Therefore, changes in the demand for these two inputs are likely to have a significant impact on Australia. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the production structure of the blast furnaces in Japan and factors affecting the demand for iron making raw materials. The empirical study is based on the generalized Leontief cost function. Because of its functional flexibility, the model allows testing various hypotheses regarding pig iron production from blast furnaces. Based on the data from 1974 to 1991, the modelling results show that the Japanese ironmaking technology, when considered as an aggregate production process using fuel and iron ore as major inputs, could be characterized by fixed factor proportions, constant returns to scale and technical changes that can be explained by systematic changes in input mix. Moreover, while there is little variation in the iron ore usage rate, variations in fuel usage rate can be explained largely by changes in the make-up of iron ore charge and blast furnace production capacity over the sample period.

Rapid Economic Growth with Increasing Returns to Scale and Little or no Productivity Growth

Total factor productivities for 28 Korean manufacturing sectors were estimated jointly with markups, scale economies, and the capacity utilization rate using the short-run generalized Leontief cost function. Concavity conditions necessary for the cost function to be well-behaved and consistent with a firm's optimizing behavior were imposed on the estimation by way of Bayesian inference. The study finds: (1) the superiority of the short-run equilibrium model over the long-run model and of the short-run generalized Leontief cost function over the translog cost function; (2) market imperfection; (3) the existence of scale economies; and (4) biases in the traditional TFP measures. The study also suggests that a rapid growth of output is possible with negative TFP growth. Copyright 1995 by MIT Press.

Expectations, substitution, and scrapping in a putty-clay model

The paper presents a framework for analyzing the effect of changing expectations about future prices on a firm's choice of technique, and on its anticipated scrapping of capital equipment. Assuming a putty-clay technology, particular attention is paid to the way in which the scrapping age depends on the degree of ex ante input substitution. Numerical illustrations — based on data for Norwegian manufacturing for the years 1964–1983, an ex ante technology represented by a Generalized Leontief cost function in materials, energy, labor, and capital, and an ARMA representation of the price expectation mechanism — are presented. The results indicate that the price changes in this period may have had a substantial impact on planned scrapping, and on the chosen production techniques.

A Nonhomothetic Generalized Leontief Cost Function Based on Pooled Data

Factor demand studies of Komiya, Ozaki, Lau and Tamura based upon detailed cross-section data on individual production units have found that the nonhomothetic factor limitational ( NHT-FL) demand system, a nonhomothetic version of the Leontief fixed coefficient model, well explains the data. These results, however, have mostly been ignored in the current literature on flexible functional forms, and in fact none of the well-known nonhomothetic flexible cost function forms includes the NHT-FL model. I introduce a new nonhomothetic form of the Generalized Leontief (GL) cost function, which includes the NHT-FL model as a special case. Empirical application to a pooled data set of the Japanese iron & steel industry indicates that his form is superior to the translog, Diewert-Wales GL, and Berndt-Khaled GL forms. Copyright 1990 by MIT Press.

The Role of Labor Costs in Regional Capital Formation

High labor costs in large Midwestern metropolitan areas have significantly reduced their manufacturing capital stock. For the period 1974 to 1978, the authors estimate that sixteen metropolitan areas in the Midwest, taken together, had approximately $2.8 billion less capital stock than they would have had if their labor costs had been at the national average. This difference is equal to 4 percent of the capital stock in these areas. The results are simulated from the estimation of a labor demand equation that is derived from a generalized Leontief cost function. Copyright 1987 by MIT Press.

Substitutability for Farm Commodities: The Demand for U.S. Tobacco in Cigarette Manufacturing

AbstractA generalized leontief cost function and system of factor demand functions for the domestic cigarette industry is estimated. We strongly rejected fixed proportions. Both imported tobacco and other inputs are substitutes for U.S. tobacco. The estimated (output constant) price elasticities are combined with the output effect (calculated from cost shares and time‐series estimates of the cigarette demand elasticity) and an export demand elasticity (from previous studies) to consider the effects of reducing the U.S. price support. Competition from foreign tobacco implies that a U.S. price decline would increase significantly the quantity of U.S. tobacco demanded.

Estimation and simulation of industry factor demand equations

A factor demand model derived from the Generalized Leontief Cost Function is outlined. The model is estimated for 53 U.S. industries which together make up the entire U.S. economy. The purpose of the model is to provide long-run forecasts of equipment investment and labor productivity within the context of an input-output forecasting model. Extensive discussion is devoted to selection of functional form, modeling of dynamics, and estimation technique, with special emphasis upon the considerations which uniquely confront the forecaster. An array of a priori constraints are imposed upon the estimation, reflecting a body of empirical evidence and theoretical requirements. In addition, elasticity estimates are reported, as well as evidence on the short-run simulation performance of the mode.