Measure Of Capital Stock Research Articles

Alternative capital asset depreciation rates for U.S. capital and total factor productivity measures

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) use estimates of depreciation rates for structures and equipment to construct estimates of capital stock from data on capital investments. The depreciation rates are based on research by Frank C. Wykoff and Charles R. Hulten from the 1980s. More recent studies by Statistics Canada, from 2007 and 2015, use Canadian data on used asset transactions from Canada’s Annual Capital and Repair Expenditures Survey of establishments. They found faster depreciation rates, especially for structures. Sheharyar Bokhari and David Geltner’s 2019 study of U.S. used asset prices also found faster depreciation rates for structures. To illustrate the potential effects of implementing these estimates from newer studies, we created a concordance to match Canadian to U.S. asset categories. We reestimated BEA capital stock measures and the BLS capital and total factor productivity (TFP) measures using depreciation rates based on the Canadian Annual Capital and Repair Expenditures Survey. Using these faster depreciation rates results in substantially lower estimates of net capital stocks and higher estimates of depreciation in BEA accounts but has minimal effects on growth rates of TFP in the BLS accounts.

Endogenous capital stock and depreciation in the United States

AbstractThere are several puzzles and unresolved problems in empirical economics that depend on the reliability of capital series. Productivity paradoxes, and certain recent trends in the US macroeconomic data, cannot be addressed correctly with the available standard measures of capital stock. Our paper contributes to the theory of capital by endogenizing capacity utilization and depreciation in an intertemporal optimization model with adjustment and maintenance costs. This model allows for corporate taxation and identifies the impact on the variables that shape the capital accumulation process. Depreciation is a control variable that is no longer assumed proportional to the capital stock. The model provides a system of equations that we run empirically with a data set of the US economy for the period 1960–2016. We obtain an empirical measure of the depreciation rate and the capital stock based on profitability and market values. They are economic estimations that consider the entire capital deterioration and obsolescence. Aggregate capital stock is a key variable in the description of the economy, and our results, which better fit the foundations of economic theory, can provide policymakers with a good understanding of the field in which specific public policy measures are to be implemented.

New estimates of total factor productivity, technical and efficiency changes for the global agricultural economy

Aim of study: The accuracy of international and intertemporal comparisons of total factor productivity (TFP) growth requires the use of indicators that satisfy transitive and multiplicative properties, such as the Färe-Primont index (FPI). This paper compares the evolution of TFP in global agriculture.Area of study: Worldwide.Material and methods: The evolution of TFP in global agriculture was measured by the traditional Malmquist index (MI) and by the FPI, with alternative measurements of input capital.Main results: We found a significantly lower TFP growth with the FPI. New estimates of TFP growth for 1961-2015 show that output oriented scale-mix efficiency drives TFP growth, with an important technological change between 1996 and 2000 and another in 2014. Regional comparisons reveal heterogeneous trends in efficiency, linked to institutional reforms and agricultural R&D.Research highlights: More realistic figures and global comparisons of agricultural productivity provide a better understanding to implement better policies. Available measures of capital stock do not yield significant differences in TFP estimations, but the precise identification and estimation of the heterogeneous drivers and burdens is fundamental for boosting agricultural productivity and its benefits on global food security.

Recent Trends in Economic Activity and TFP in Italy with a Focus on Embodied Technical Progress

In this paper we provide fresh evidence on TFP performance in the Italian economy since 1995, taking into account the changing composition of primary inputs across different capital goods and employment skills, as well as technical progress embodied in different vintages of the productive assets. We first estimate a technical depreciation rate by using individual data on Italian industrial firms. We then obtain an experimental measure of the capital stock adjusted for technical efficiency, by augmenting the standard depreciation rate by our own estimate of technical depreciation (about 5% per year). Once we introduce our measure of capital stock in a standard growth accounting exercise, we find a less dismal performance of the Italian TFP than usually estimated. Focusing on the years between 2007 and 2016, the upward correction in TFP amounts to around 1.5% points in the overall period for the total economy and to about 2.5% points when only considering manufacturing. These findings shed a somewhat more positive light on future TFP developments in Italy, even more so should the efficiency of installed capital resumes improving following the fall during the crisis of years 2008–2013 caused by the slump in investment spending. Higher capital formation would imply a faster replacement of old vintages with more technically advanced ones.

The Measurement of Capital Stock of China

Capital stock is an important indicator in economics, it is an important indicator to measure the social and economic development status. But the research of capital stock is not wildly contributed. This paper is to measure capital stock and forecast future capital stock with time series models. The author conducts empirical methods based on the measurement methods of previous scholars. The paper concludes that the capital stock is growing stably, and with established new mathematical models and time series models, and combined with the latest data, measures the capital stock of China.

Adding cycles into the neoclassical growth model

We propose a stochastic Solow growth model where a cyclical component is added to the total factor productivity process. Theoretically, an important feature of the model is that its main equation takes a state space representation where key parameters can be estimated via an unobserved component approach without involving capital stock measures. In addition, the dynamic properties of the model are mostly unaffected by the newly introduced cyclical component. Empirically, our novel framework is consistent with secular U.S. empirical evidence.

Economic and statistical measurement of physical capital: From theory to practice

The standard measurements of capital and depreciation are statistical measures based on assumptions about the average service life of capital goods, which are accumulated according to the perpetual inventory method. The purpose of this paper is to obtain a true economic measure of capital stock according to the prescriptions of the neoclassical theory. In this way, we develop an alternative method based on the equations that solve the dynamic optimization problem of the firm, yielding an economic estimation based on indicators of profitability, such as the distributed profits and the Tobin's q ratio. Thus, this method enables us to endogenously calculate the variables' rate of depreciation and capital stock. We apply this procedure to the Spanish economy, getting the series of an economic measure of depreciation and the economic value of capital stock. Our results show an economic depreciation rate that fluctuates around the statistical rate. Moreover, we get two time profiles for the economic and statistical capital stocks that differ significantly from each other.

Aggregate Multi-Factor Productivity: Measurement Issues in OECD Countries

This paper analyses for 34 OECD countries the extent to which the calculation of aggregate multi-factor productivity (MFP) is sensitive to alternative parameterisations. The starting point is the definition of MFP used in previous work in the OECD’s Economics Department (e.g. Johansson et al. 2013). They include alternative MFP measures, with human capital included or excluded, with different measures of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) exchange rates, using time-varying capital depreciation rates and different measures of capital stock and labour input (headcount against hours worked). The main result of the paper is that whether or not human capital is included in MFP makes a significant difference for the level and dynamics of MFP. At the same time, MFP measures are less sensitive to other parameters of the calculation.

The role of production factor quality and technology diffusion in twentieth-century productivity growth

The twentieth century was a period of exceptional growth, driven mainly by the increase in total factor productivity (TFP). Using a database of 17 OECD countries over the 1890–2013 period, this paper integrates production factor quality into the measure of TFP, namely by factoring the level of education of the working-age population into the measure of labor and the age of equipment in the measure of capital stock. We then estimate how the diffusion of technology impacts the growth of this newly measured TFP through two emblematic general purpose technologies, electricity and information and communication technologies (ICT). Using growth decomposition methodology from instrumental variable estimates, this paper finds that education levels contribute most significantly to growth, while the age of capital makes a limited, although significant, contribution. Quality-adjusted production factors explain less than half of labor productivity growth in the largest countries except for Japan, where capital deepening posted a very large contribution. As a consequence, the “one big wave” of productivity growth (Gordon in Am Econ Rev 89(2):123–128, 1999), as well as the ICT productivity wave for the countries which experienced it, remains only partially explained by quality-adjusted factors, although education and technology diffusion contribute to explain the earlier wave in the USA in the 1930s–1940s. Finally, technology diffusion, as captured through our two general purpose technologies, leaves unexplained between 0.6 and 1 percentage point of yearly growth, as well as a large proportion of the two twentieth-century technology waves. These results both support a significant lag in the diffusion of general purpose technologies and raise further questions on a wider view on growth factors, including changes in the production process, management techniques and financing practices. Measurement problems may also contribute to the unexplained share of growth.

Human capital in the long run

This study presents new data sets on long-run enrollment ratios, educational attainment, and human capital stock measures for numerous countries. We construct a complete data set of historical enrollment ratios, subdivided by education level and gender, for 111 countries from 1820 to 1945 (at five-year intervals) by using newly compiled census observations and information on the year of establishment of the oldest school in individual countries. Then, by utilizing these enrollment ratios, as well as available census data from 1945 onward on different age groups' educational attainment, we construct a data set of estimated educational attainment, disaggregated by gender and age group, and aggregate human capital stock that spans from 1870 to 2010. The data show that over the past two centuries, there has been remarkable growth in average educational attainment and human capital stock as well as a narrowing of the gap in average educational attainment between nations.

Social Capital, Investment and Economic Growth: Some Evidence for Spanish Provinces

This article analyses the impact of social capital on regional economic growth in Spain during the 1985–2005 period. The literature in this context is virtually nonexistent and, in addition, whereas most studies, regardless of their context, have used survey data in order to measure social capital, we use a measure whose construction is based on similar criteria to other measures of capital stock. Compared with more standard measures of social capital and trust, our measure is available with a high level of disaggregation, and with annual frequency for a long time period. Following a panel data approach, our findings indicate that social capital has a positive impact on GDP per capita growth in the context of Spanish provinces, implying that ‘social features’ are important for explaining the differences in wealth that one might find across Spanish provinces. We also explore the transmission mechanisms from social capital to growth, finding a highly positive relation between social capital and private physical investment.

Replacement versus Historical Cost Profit Rates: What is the Difference? When Does it Matter?

AbstractThis paper explains the Bureau of Economic Analysis methodology for computing historical cost and replacement cost measures of the net stock of capital in the US economy. It is demonstrated that there exists a threshold rate of inflation in the price of capital goods that keeps the percentage difference between the two capital stock measures constant. Hence, over periods when average inflation in the price index for capital goods is equal to the threshold value, historical cost and replacement cost profit rates would show equal percentage changes; an example of such a period for the US economy is 1946–2010.

Social Capital, Investment and Economic Growth. Evidence for Spanish Provinces

This article analyzes the impact of social capital on regional economic growth in Spain during the 1985-2005 period. The literature in this context is virtually nonexistent and, in addition, whereas most studies, regardless of their context, have used survey data in order to measure social capital, we use a measure whose construction is based on similar criteria to other measures of capital stock. Compared with more standard measures of social capital and trust, our measure is available with a high level of disaggregation, and with annual frequency for a long time period. Following a panel data approach, our findings indicate that social capital has a positive impact on GDP per capita growth in the context of Spanish provinces, implying that “social features” are important for explaining the differences in wealth one might find across Spanish provinces. We also explore the transmission mechanisms from social capital to growth, finding a highly positive relation between social capital and private physical investment.

La composición sectorial de la inversión y su implicaciones en la medición de los servicios del capital y el crecimiento en Colombia

This is mainly a discussant paper on measurement criteria upon sector’s investment and capitalservices and the way these composition and measurement issues come to have an impact ongrowth figures for some major sectors of the Colombian economy. The main focus is on distinctionmatters regarding the measurement of capital stock and capital services in the productionprocess. The availability of appropriate data, widely discussed throughout the document, impliesthat major affirmations are more hypothetic than indicative or descriptive in style. Moststatements are established as a motivation device for studies on sector’s activities with a focus onconsistency with aggregate figures.

The impact of education investment on Sri Lankan economic growth

Abstract We evaluate the contribution of investment on education to Sri Lanka’s economic growth during the period 1959–2008. Physical capital, economic policy changes and the ethnic war are also evaluated due to their substantial importance. This study uses a framework encompassing both the neoclassical and endogenous growth model. The impact of education is assessed through a quality adjusted human capital stock measure. The returns to investment in education are positive but significantly lower than those found for other developing economies. Unlike the case of most developed economies, higher returns from investment in physical capital cannot produce any sizable positive externalities. The war has had the expected negative effect on output, and the results on economic policy changes are inconclusive. The results indicate a need for an appropriate strategy to allocate resources on education to improve its returns to the economy.

THE IMPACT OF FACILITIES ON THE COST OF EDUCATION

This paper uses new data on school district capital stocks, stochastic frontier analysis, and a value-added measure of school quality to provide the first direct evaluation of the relationship between school facilities and school district costs. We find that the cost of education increases as the capital stock increases, suggesting either that school districts are grossly overcapitalized or that nicer facilities reflect an important, unmeasured dimension of school quality. We also find that cost function estimates for Texas are largely insensitive to the exclusion of the capital stock measures, suggesting that stochastic frontier cost function estimates without a capital stock measure are unlikely to be biased.

New, disaggregated, British railway total factor productivity growth estimates, 1875 to 19121

Total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Britain's railways in the last part of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth has been widely studied, not least because it can throw light on the question of the causes of overall slowdown in industrial growth. This article is concerned with the detailed mechanics of measuring TFP growth and with the use of results to compare growth across different companies. The article disaggregates TFP growth between different activities performed by railway companies (provision of locomotive power, operation of carriages and wagons, provision of permanent way, and working of traffic), and it also develops detailed measures of capital stock and capital costs using disaggregate data on assets employed in each activity. These improvements to existing methodology reduce, rather than increase, existing estimates of TFP growth. Consequently the results confirm the previously observed conclusion that productivity growth was slow. They show that while there were significant increases in goods train operating efficiency in the first decade of the twentieth century, the additional resources that were employed meant that these increases were slow to translate into overall TFP growth.

Micro and Macro Data Integration: The Case of Capital

Micro and macro data integration should be an objective of economic measurement as it is clearly advantageous to have internally consistent measurement at all levels of aggregation - firm, industry and aggregate. In spite of the apparently compelling arguments, there are few measures of business activity that achieve anything close to micro/macro data internal consistency. The measures of business activity that are arguably the worst on this dimension are capital stocks and flows. In this paper, we document, quantify and analyze the widely different approaches to the measurement of capital from the aggregate (top down) and micro (bottom up) perspectives. We find that recent developments in data collection permit improved integration of the top down and bottom up approaches. We develop a prototype hybrid method that exploits these data to improve micro/macro data internal consistency in a manner that could potentially lead to substantially improved measures of capital stocks and flows at the industry level. Wealso explore the properties of the micro distribution of investment. In spite of substantial data and associated measurement limitations, we show that the micro distributions of investment exhibit properties that are of interest to both micro and macro analysts of investment behavior. These findings help highlight some of the potential benefits of micro/macro data integration.

Capital Services Growth in the UK: 1950 to 2006*

AbstractThis paper describes a capital services dataset for the United Kingdom developed for use in empirical work, and some of its key features. The estimates are consistent with National Accounts output estimates, making them ideal for use in growth‐accounting or business‐cycle analysis. The divergence between the volume of capital services and the volume of the capital stock after 1980 is highlighted. This divergence is driven by a shift in investment towards short‐lived and more productive information and communication technology assets for which the flow of capital services is high. Standard capital stock measures understate growth in the productive input of capital, especially after 1990.

Capital as a factor of production in OECD agriculture: measurement and data

This article provides a farm sector comparison of levels of capital input for fourteen OECD countries for the period 1973 to 2002. The starting point for construction of a measure of capital input is the measurement of capital stock. Estimates of depreciable capital are derived by representing capital stock at each point of time as a weighted sum of past investments. The weights correspond to the relative efficiencies of capital goods of different ages, so that the weighted components of capital stock have the same efficiency. Estimates of the stock of land are derived from balance sheet data. We convert estimates of capital stock into estimates of capital service flows by means of capital rental prices. Comparisons of levels of capital input among countries require data on relative prices of capital input. We obtain relative price levels for capital input via relative investment goods prices, taking into account the flow of capital input per unit of capital stock in each country.