An Endogenous Technology Framework

Author(s):  
Francesco Caselli

This chapter presents an endogenous technology framework capable of rationalizing the finding that technology differences are biased toward skilled labor, reproducible capital, and labor. In this framework, firms in each country choose a technology characterized by a particular combination of efficiency units attached to different inputs. The optimal choice of technology depends on relative factor prices and, therefore, on relative factor supplies. The chapter first develops the analysis for a production function with only skilled and unskilled labor before extending the model to feature the four factors of production used in the empirical framework. The two-factor model establishes the conditions under which the intuition that countries will choose technologies that augment the abundant factor is valid. It shows that the key parameter is the elasticity of substitution between the two factors of production.

Author(s):  
Francesco Caselli

This chapter examines how skilled and unskilled labor vary across countries by taking into account the wage rate for skilled labor and the wage rate for unskilled labor, based on the assumption that labor markets approximate conditions of perfect competition. The equation to be used implies that the relative wage of a skilled worker is decreasing with the relative supply of skills. However, for a given supply of skills the relative wage also depends on the relative efficiency with which skills are used. The chapter first estimates the skill bias, the relative supply of skills, and the skill premium before deriving a calibrated value for the elasticity of substitution. It then presents the key empirical results for the skill bias in technology across countries and goes on to discuss alternative skill thresholds. It also considers the implications of differences in school quality and the implications of capital–skill complementarity.


1989 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashfaque H. Khan

Production functions have been widely studied in the relevant literature. In this paper, apart from labour and capital, we have used energy as a factor input and calculated the elasticity of substitution between these inputs, measured technical progress, and determined the returns to scale in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. Since we have more than two factors of production, the standard Cobb· Douglas and CES production functions do not provide satisfactory results. Hence, two·level (nested) CES production function becomes the natural choice for the appropriate technology. Using this technology, we have found low elasticity of substitution between the three factors of production. Furthermore, the manufacturing sector is found to exhibit decreasing returns to scale, having experienced disembodied technical progress at the rate of 3.7 percent per annum.


2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 583-598
Author(s):  
Tuna Dinç

This paper proposes that even when all countries have access to common technology frontier and can use the technologies which are fully appropriate to their needs, there will still be productivity differences across countries depending on their relative skill endowments. To illustrate this view, we have constructed a two sector model of productivity differences in which the level of technology is determined endogenously depending on the aggregate capital externalities. The relative supply of skilled and unskilled labor determines the direction of technical choices of the countries and differences in these relative factor supplies lead to cross-country income differences combined with the fact that capital is more productive in the advance of the skilled labor complement technologies than in the unskilled labor complement technologies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Havranek ◽  
Zuzana Irsova ◽  
Lubica Laslopova ◽  
Olesia Zeynalova

A key parameter in the analysis of wage inequality is the elasticity of substitution between skilled and unskilled labor. We question the common view that the elasticity exceeds 1. Two biases, publication and attenuation, conspire to pull the mean elasticity reported in the literature to 1.9. After correcting for the biases, the literature is consistent with the elasticity in the US of 0.6--0.9. Our analysis relies on 729 estimates of the elasticity collected from 76 studies as well as 37 controls that reflect the context in which the estimates were obtained. We use recently developed nonlinear techniques to correct for publication bias and employ Bayesian and frequentist model averaging to address model uncertainty. Our results suggest that, first, insignificant estimates of the elasticity are underreported. Second, because researchers typically estimate the elasticity's inverse, measurement error exaggerates the elasticity, and we show the exaggeration is substantial. Third, elasticities are systematically larger for developed countries, translog estimation, and methods that ignore endogeneity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (03) ◽  
pp. 20445-20451
Author(s):  
Adam A ◽  
Kiosseoglou G ◽  
Abatzoglou G ◽  
Papaligoura Z.

The present research aims to examine the factor structure of the Hellenic WISC-III in a sample of 50 children with learning disabilities. The results show the existence of a factorial model with two factors, one aggregating the Comprehension verbal subtest with four performance subtests and the other the Picture Arrangement performance subtest with four verbal subtests. This two-factor model includes loadings in two factors that relate to the sequencing abilities and the verbal reasoning abilities of children. These findings assert the clinical value of the intelligence evaluation in these children.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salene M. Wu ◽  
Dagmar Amtmann

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive disease characterized by neurological symptoms and sometimes heightened levels of distress. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is often used in MS samples to measure stress but has not been validated in this population. Participants (n=446) completed the PSS as well as measure of depression, anxiety, and mental and physical health. Factor analyses indicated that the general factor of a bifactor model accounted for a large amount of the variance in the 14-item and 10-item versions of the PSS. The 4-item PSS had two factors, the Stress subscale and the Coping subscale, but a one-factor model also fits the data well. Total scores and both subscales had sufficient reliability and validity for all versions of the PSS, although a few items of the 14-item PSS had low item-total correlations. This study supports the use of the total score of the PSS in MS but also suggests that the 10-item PSS had better psychometric properties than the 14-item PSS.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402110013
Author(s):  
Monique O’Bryant ◽  
Prathiba Natesan Batley ◽  
Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie

The aims of this study were to validate an instrument that measured statistics anxiety and to examine how attitudes toward statistics predict statistics anxiety using the Attitudes Toward Statistics (ATS) Scale for a sample of 323 undergraduate social science majors enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States. A confirmatory factor analysis suggested retaining a revised two-factor model of the Statistical Anxiety Scale (SAS) to measure statistics anxiety, namely, help and interpretation anxiety ([Formula: see text] = 49.37, df = 38.13, p = .105, comparative fit index [CFI] = .959, standardized root mean square residual [SRMR] = .035, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = .076). An examination of discriminant validity of the scores of the SAS with scores of the ATS subscales revealed that statistics anxiety and attitudes toward statistics are distinct constructs. Structural equational modeling was used to determine whether attitude toward course and attitude toward field were predictors of examination anxiety and asking for help anxiety. Of the two factors of the ATS scale, attitudes toward field and attitudes toward course, the latter predicted examination anxiety better than the former did, although both were moderate predictors of examination anxiety. We recommend that statistics educators consider the role of statistics anxiety as well as attitudes toward statistics and the field when designing their pedagogical approach.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-472
Author(s):  
Nalanda Roy

AbstractThis article explores the changing relationship between immigration and security in the post-9/11 United States. When it comes to immigration before 9/11, security was not the overarching concern in the US; rather, the focus was on economic interest, skilled and unskilled labor, family reunification, etc. However, immediately after 9/11, security became indisputably prioritized. In fact, September 11 changed the way Americans started to look at security, and this led to a thickening of the balance between the two.


Author(s):  
Miguel Flores Segovia ◽  
Eliud Silva

ABSTRACT: The dynamics of the internal migration is a crucial element in the composition of the workforce of a certain region, so its analysis contributes to the better understanding of labor markets and sociodemographic changes in a region. In order to characterize the most recent patterns of migratory flows of skilled and unskilled labor, census data are considered for the periods 1995-2000, 2005-2010 and 2010-2015. The analysis considers different indicators that describe the intensity and relative concentration of interstate migration. Changes in migratory patterns are evident; a lower concentration of internal migration whose effect is more marked for unskilled labor. That is, it is observed that the number of states that play a preponderant role in the redistribution of labor in Mexico has increased. The relationship of domestic labor mobility is evident to the regional transformation as a result of new geographical patterns of location of investment, production and economic agglomeration.


Accounting ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 93-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Akbari Fard ◽  
Sayyed Abdolmajid Jalaee ◽  
Seyed Bagher Fazayel Ardakani

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