Production Function and Robotization - How Can CES Technology Help?
Depending on the workers qualification, the use of robots is perceived either as a helpful tool or as a competitor. We analyze the substitution of capital for labor, including the case where the product is entirely made by robots. We use CES production functions and their derived cost functions (the later being surprisingly missing in the literature). We focus on short-run and the case of an elasticity of substitution greater than 1. We highlight a level of product for which the cost is identical regardless of the factor used. As a joint product, we provide a foundation to cost functions exhibiting first increasing and then decreasing returns to scale (a so far missing justification to the usually assumed shape of cost functions).