FACTOR PROPORTIONS AND RELATIVE PRICE UNDER C.E.S. PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF JAPANESE-U.S. COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE.
Abstract
The study is an empirical testing of the relative-factor-proportions theory of comparative advantage ('Heckscher-Ohlin theorem'), and of the major implications for international relative-price determination of constant-elasticity-of-substitution (CES) production functions. It utilizes detailed Japanese and U.S. 1951 market-price data and input-output materials for two-country comparison of factor-input patterns and relative commodity prices. Principal method employed is linear regression of composite weighted-average Japanese-U.S. price ratios on total (direct and indirect) capital-labor proportions, organized by 29-sector industry classification, and variously measured. Extensive detailed factor-use data are presented, as well as the Leontief-inverse of 'domestic-product technological flow matrix' for each economy. An 'equivalent-efficiency relative price' (or 'relative joint factor-cost index') concept and data are developed, depending solely on the shape of each industry's CES production function and relative total factor proportions. Other data include: relative prices and costs of raw-material inputs into manufacturing, direct and total input coefficients for imports used in industry, factor and commodity 'shadow-price' estimates from linear regression of output levels on weighted factor-input volumes, and actual 1951 Japanese-U.S. trade flows. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 19, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0646021
Entities
People
- Gary W. Bickel
Organizations
- Stanford University