United States Manufacturing Industries Research Articles

Intersectoral network‐based channel of aggregate TFP shocks

AbstractThis study investigates the role of intersectoral networks in the transmission of aggregate technology shocks to sectors' growth. First, we develop a theoretical model to obtain insights into the propagation of shocks through input–output linkages, which suggests that the network effect arises via sectoral downstream linkages. We then quantitatively assess this theoretical implication with United States manufacturing industries, where the aggregate technology shocks are derived from a dynamic factor model. We find that aggregate technology shocks lead to an increase in the output growth of the sector, both directly and indirectly via its intersectoral linkages. More interestingly, we document a crucial role of the intersectoral network channel, which contributes about 50% of the total effect. In addition, the network‐based effect comes mostly from downstream linkages of sectors, which is broadly consistent with theory.

The Energy Climate Water Nexus: A Global Sustainability Impact Assessment of U.S. Manufacturing

This study assesses the global economic and environmental impacts of United States manufacturing industries over a 20-year period, covering the areas of economics, climate change, and water and energy use. It covers 35 industries located in 40 major economies and the Rest of the World (ROW) from 1995 to 2014. To measure the global sustainability impacts generated by the activity of U.S. manufacturing industries, a multi-region input-output (MRIO) modeling approach is proposed, and twenty MRIO models were built to conduct a time-series analysis. The findings indicate that economic impacts increased both domestically and globally, except in the year 2008, and that the intensity of environmental impacts decreased substantially, while cumulative environmental impacts exhibited a non-decreasing trend. The three categories under investigation were found to be strongly linked, which calls for further policy developments by engineering managers, who should take into account all of the categories together, rather than singly.

Durability Versus Concentration as an Explanation for Price Inflexibility

We document the extent of price rigidity across United States manufacturing industries in the 1980s and early 1990s and compare rigidity across different phases of the business cycle. We measure price rigidity in three ways – each under four different sets of assumptions. We take an approach that relies on disaggregated data; we look at price patterns for over 4000 individual manufactured commodities. Both durability and seller concentration are found to be important factors explaining differences in price rigidity across industrial product classes. Using our data, we replicate the regression results found in Carlton (1986) that were based on actual transaction prices from the 1960s.

Trends in Hearing Protector Usage in American Manufacturing from 1972 to 1989

This study investigated the trends in hearing protector use in United States manufacturing industries. Using data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-sponsored National Occupational Hazard Survey (1972), the National Occupational Exposure Survey (1983), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration-sponsored National Survey of Personal Protective Equipment Usage (1989), estimates were made of numbers of workers using hearing protection in various industries. Unique to this study is discussion of the impact of enactment of hearing conservation regulations during the same time frame as the two earlier surveys. In general, higher percentages of workers utilized hearing protection in 1989 than in 1972. Increased hearing protection use over time was also found when size of facility (number of employees) was taken into account. Differences in the use of hearing protection over the period 1972-1989 varied in individual industries, ranging from less than 10 to more than 30%.

Pricing behavior in United States manufacturing industries: A statistical study using disaggregated data

We investigate the relationship between industrial market structure and price flexibility (the administered-pricing hypothesis) across United States manufacturing industries by embedding market-structure variables in a model relating relative price variability (dispersion) and inflation. While we find support for a positive relationship between variability and inflation, we do not find that high seller concentration lessens the impact of inflation on price variability. We do find that the larger the efficient-sized plant, the lower the impact of inflation on variability. We also find strong effects of input prices and degree of product durability on relative price variability.

Trade unions and labor's share in U.S. manufacturing industries

This study assesses the impact of trade unions on labor's share of income. It improves on previous tests by accounting for possible alternative explanations of an observed positive relationship between union coverage and labor's share. Using three-digit cross-sectional data on United States manufacturing industries from 1973–1975 and 1983–1985, the analysis accounts for both establishment size and worker characteristics, and conducts tests across different time periods. Union density and establishment size are found to have a positive effect on labor's share.

Trades unions, market concentration and income distribution in United States manufacturing industry

This paper uses three- and four-digit cross-sections of United States manufacturing industries in 1972 in order to test a Kaleckian degree of monopoly theory of income distribution. Various measures of labour share are regressed on the four-firm concentration ratio, the advertising-sales ratio, a measure of capital intensity and a unionisation variable. In contrast to earlier studies for the U.S. strong evidence is found of a negative relationship between in particular production worker wage share and concentration and advertising intensity, and evidence of a positive relationship between wage share and the level of unionisation.

The cyclical response of employment to output changes: United States manufacturing industries, 1948 to 1983

(1986). The cyclical response of employment to output changes: United States manufacturing industries, 1948 to 1983. Applied Economics: Vol. 18, No. 5, pp. 495-500.

The Protection of Unskilled Labor in the United States Manufacturing Industries: Further Evidence

This paper investigates whether all United States trade distortions protect unskilled labor in domestic manufacturing industries. Empirical tests of the relationship between U.S. protection levels and unskilled-labor intensity have been conducted by Ball (1967) and Cheh (1976). Two features of the present study are unique. First, the analysis is expanded to include protection from international transportation charges which has been shown to account for a large part of the total protection accorded to import-competing activities.1 Their inclusion is a necessary step in attempts to assess propositions concerning a nation's total protective structure. Second, unlike previous studies, this investigation pairs nominal and effective protection rates from all trade barriers with the theoretically correct labor intensity measures. If all trade distortions are found to bear more heavily on unskilled-labor-intensive imports, this result will contribute to our understanding of the income distributional impact of trade barrier structure and will also lend support to Travis's (1964, 1968, 1972) contention that U.S. trade policy is partially responsible for the Leontief scarce-factor paradox.

A Comment on Tariffs, Nontariff Barriers, and Labor Protection in United States Manufacturing Industries

In an interesting contribution to this Jouriial, J. H. Cheh (1976) attempts to test the hypothesis that United States distortions of international trade protect labor in domestic manufacturing industries. First popularized by Vaccara (1960), this hypothesis has been the subject of much research (e.g., Balassa 1965, 1970; Basevi 1966; Ball 1967; Burgess 1976) and has been offered by Travis (1964, 1968) as a partial explanation for Leontief's finding that U.S. exportables are more labor intensive in production than U.S. importables. Cheh's empirical tests of this hypothesis consist of regressing total rates of protection (i.e., rates of protection that include the effects of both tariff and nontariff barriers) on measures of labor intensities of production for 51 manufacturing industries.' His conclusions are that U.S. trade distortions as a whole do not protect labor and, therefore, that Travis's explanation of the Leontief paradox is refuted. The purpose of this comment is not to defend either the labor protection hypothesis or the Travis hypothesis, but to indicate that Cheh's empirical

International Cost Differences: A Comparison of Canadian and United States Manufacturing Industries

T HIS study is based upon a comparison of industrial cost and employment characteristics for manufacturing industries in Canada and the United States. The two economies are highly interdependent, and studies such as this should be relevant to considerations of international economic policy. It begins with extensive pairwise comparisons of means, which indicate considerable similarity in characteristics. These similarities suggest the hypothesis that cost and employment characteristics in Canada do not differ systematically from those in the United States. Cons.equently, multivariate analysis is applied to determine whether or not the CanadianAmerican differences should be regarded as random or systematic. The application of discriminant analysis to a data set for the two countries leads to the conclusion that industries can be classified according to national origin with an extremely high degree of accuracy on the basis of the characteristics in question.

A Note on Tariffs, Nontariff Barriers, and Labor Protection in United States Manufacturing Industries

Previous articleNext article No AccessCommunicationsA Note on Tariffs, Nontariff Barriers, and Labor Protection in United States Manufacturing IndustriesJohn H. ChehJohn H. Cheh Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Political Economy Volume 84, Number 2Apr., 1976 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/260442 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 15Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1976 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:HYEJOON IM NOT ALL GOODS ARE CREATED EQUAL: TARIFF CONCESSIONS IN THE KOREA–CHINA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT, The Singapore Economic Review 66, no.0505 (Nov 2017): 1205–1219.https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217590817500187Sunitha Raju, Bibek Ray Chaudhuri, Mridula S. Mishra Trade Liberalization and Employment Effects in Indian Manufacturing: An Empirical Assessment, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2016).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3164440Nakgyoon Choi Determinants of Staging Categories for Tariff Elimination in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Negotiations of Free Trade Agreements, Asian Economic Papers 10, no.22 (Jun 2011): 1–17.https://doi.org/10.1162/ASEP_a_00070Nakgyoon Choi Determinants of Staging Categories for the Tariff Elimination in the FTA Negotiations, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2009).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2955467Wendy L. Hansen The International Trade Commission and the Politics of Protectionism, American Political Science Review 84, no.11 (Aug 2014): 21–46.https://doi.org/10.2307/1963628 References, (Jan 1983): 189–203.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-438740-9.50013-7Theodore Hitiris Protection, concentration and labour intensity: Reply, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv 117, no.22 (Jun 1981): 383–384.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02696759James C. Hartigan The U.S. tariff and comparative advantage: A survey of method, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv 117, no.11 (Mar 1981): 65–109.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02696578André Blais, Philippe Faucher La politique industrielle dans les économies capitalistes avancées, Canadian Journal of Political Science 14, no.11 (Nov 2009): 3–35.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423900035332 Edward John Ray The Determinants of Tariff and Nontariff Trade Restrictions in the United States, Journal of Political Economy 89, no.11 (Oct 2015): 105–121.https://doi.org/10.1086/260952 Don P. Clark The Protection of Unskilled Labor in the United States Manufacturing Industries: Further Evidence, Journal of Political Economy 88, no.66 (Oct 2015): 1249–1254.https://doi.org/10.1086/260940 Selected Bibliography, (Jan 1979): 99–141.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-024644-4.50013-9Jaleel Ahmad Diversion et création d’échanges commerciaux dans le cadre du système canadien de préférences tarifaires, L'Actualité économique 55, no.11 (Jun 2009): 68–81.https://doi.org/10.7202/800814ar Joe A. Stone A Comment on Tariffs, Nontariff Barriers, and Labor Protection in United States Manufacturing Industries, Journal of Political Economy 86, no.55 (Oct 2015): 959–962.https://doi.org/10.1086/260721James Riedel Tariff concessions in the Kennedy Round and the structure of protection in West Germany, Journal of International Economics 7, no.22 (May 1977): 133–143.https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1996(77)90026-5

Wage Determination in Key Manufacturing Industries, 1950–70

Analyzes a wage determination model under collective bargaining in the United States manufacturing industries from 1950 to 1970. Criticisms of wage determination models; Factors that influence wage determination; Characteristics of wages between 1965 to 1970; Discussion of wage restraint and catch-up. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

The Determinants of Entry: A Study of the Canadian Manufacturing Industries

ENTRY plays a crucial role in microecoIJi nomic models of market structure and performance. However there has been very little direct empirical investigation of entry and its determinants over a broad cross section of industries. In this paper we construct and estimate a model which assumes entry is a function of the incentives to enter relative to the level of entry barriers. The subject of the analysis is the cross-section differences in entry between the three-digit industries of the Canadian manufacturing sector. Previous studies of entry have either concentrated on only several industries or have attempted to make conclusions about entry conditions by regressing profit rates on variables representing entry barriers. Bain (1956) examined 20 (mostly four-digit) United States manufacturing industries and concluded that the most significant barriers to entry were product differentiation, economies of scale in plant or firm and control of patents or scarce resources, respectively. Mann's study (1966), which was limited to 30 of the United States manufacturing industries, did not examine the relative importance of the various barriers to entry. Mansfield's (1962) sample was limited to four industries. Capital requirements was the only barrier he considered. Most econometric investigations of entry barriers have been indirect tests. They have regressed the profit rate, rather than entry, on those structural characteristics considered to be barriers to entry (Comanor and Wilson 1967, Miller 1969). Unfortunately this specification does not permit reliable conclusions regarding the effectiveness of these variables in deterring entry. There are theoretical reasons for questioning the often assumed strong positive relationship between entry barriers and the true profit rate. Additionally of course, there is the infamous gap between true and measured profits. This paper's treatment of entry barriers has several important advantages over previous work. Those variables considered to be entry barriers are introduced directly as determinants of entry rather than the profit rate. This is a direct rather than indirect test of the propensity of these factors to deter entrants. A most important result is that our conclusions are less sensitive to those unavoidable measurement errors in the profit rate. Our estimating equations consider a more extensive list of entry barriers over a larger (71) sample, covering all types of manufacturing.

The Geographic Size of Markets in Manufacturing

T HE geographic extent of the market has long been recognized as an important element of industry structure. For lack of systematic and direct measures, however, previous studies have relied either on rough classifications of geographical market size (local, regional or national) (Comanor and Wilson, 1967, p. 433; Kaysen and Turner, 1959, appendixes, pp. 283-285; Stigler, 1963, pp. 265-269 and 56-57) or on output dispersion indexes such as the number of states needed to account for 75 per cent of total shipments (Collins and Preston, 1968, 1969; Fuchs, 1962). This paper develops an alternative index of market size based on the Census of Transportation. Some attempts are made to evaluate various measures of market extent by comparisons with indexes of output dispersion and with an element of transport cost. It ends with a brief summary of the geographic market sizes of United States manufacturing industries.

Investment Behavior and the Production Function

In the economic theory of investment behavior the form of the optimal production and investment policy depends critically on the form of technology. The purpose of this paper is to select an appropriate description of technology on the basis of empirical evidence for United States manufacturing industries. The evidence is consistent with a production function characterized by elasticity of substitution equal to unity and constant returns to scale. For this description of technology the optimal policy determines an optimal rate of growth of capital and associated capital/output and labor/output ratios for any set of prices of output, labor input, and capital input. The desired level of capital is a perpetually moving target to which actual capital never converges. The corresponding model of investment policy has been employed extensively in econometric studies of investment behavior. Characterization of the form of optimal investment policy makes it possible to resolve the considerable controversy over the interpretation of econometric models of investment.

Interindustry Wage Structure Variation in Manufacturing

Examines the changes in wages across United States manufacturing industries. Relationship of wage changes to net value productivity; Results of simple correlation analysis; Explanation of variation over a longer period. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

The Effective Rates of Protection and the Question of Labor Protection in the United States: A Comment

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Effective Rates of Protection and the Question of Labor Protection in the United States: A CommentBela Balassa and Daniel M. SchydlowskyBela Balassa Search for more articles by this author and Daniel M. Schydlowsky Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Political Economy Volume 78, Number 5Sep. - Oct., 1970 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/259696 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 6Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1970 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: References, (Jan 1983): 189–203.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-438740-9.50013-7James C. Hartigan The U.S. tariff and comparative advantage: A survey of method, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv 117, no.11 (Mar 1981): 65–109.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02696578 Joe A. Stone A Comment on Tariffs, Nontariff Barriers, and Labor Protection in United States Manufacturing Industries, Journal of Political Economy 86, no.55 (Oct 2015): 959–962.https://doi.org/10.1086/260721 Frederick R. Warren-Boulton Vertical Control with Variable Proportions, Journal of Political Economy 82, no.44 (Oct 2015): 783–802.https://doi.org/10.1086/260233 Bela Balassa , and Daniel M. Schydlowsky Domestic Resource Costs and Effective Protection Once Again, Journal of Political Economy 80, no.11 (Oct 2015): 63–69.https://doi.org/10.1086/259861W.M. Corden The substitution problem in the theory of effective protection, Journal of International Economics 1, no.11 (Feb 1971): 37–57.https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1996(71)90015-8