Showing papers on "Productivity model published in 1978"

Growth Accounting with Intermediate Inputs

Abstract: accumulation of capital in an earlier paper, and the adjustment is found nearly to double the importance of technical progress as a source of growth.3 The present paper studies the interaction of productivity change and intermediate input.4 The expansion in the production of intermediate goods occurring because of increased factor efficiency makes it important to distinguish between productivity change originating in a sector and the impact of productivity change on the sector. Productivity change in the first sense refers to the shift in the sectoral technology and is measured by the conventional productivity residual. Productivity change in the second sense measures the equilibrium response to the shifting sectoral technologies, and includes (a) the induced reallocation of factor input between sectors, and (b) the induced expansion in intermediate input, which serves to magnify the effect of technical change. In assessing the importance of productivity change as a source of growth, it is the second sense which is relevant, since it is the impact of productivity change which affects the evolution of the sector, and not the change in factor efficiency occurring within that sector. The distinction between the two aspects of productivity change is analogous to the distinction between nominal and effective tax incidence. An ad-valorem excise tax imposed at a given statutory rate may be regarded as shifting the commodity supply curve upward; the distributional impact of the tax depends on the equilibrium adjustment to this shift. The well-known Harberger (1962) model of tax incidence was, in fact, specifically intended to take these adjustments into account. In an essentially parallel vein, this paper develops the distinction between nominal and effective rates of technical change from the point of view of productivity analysis. Effective rates of productivity change are defined in this paper using the reduced form of an N-sector growth model, where the rate of change of total factor supply, and the rate of change of technological efficiency are assumed to be given exogenously. The growth rates of the endogenous variables-prices and quantities-are expressed as linear combinations 511

Measuring programming quality and productivity

Abstract: To a large extend, the units used to measure program quality and productivity tend to lead the mind along certain channels of thought. An analysis of the commonly used units of measure in programming has revealed deficiencies in some units that lead to incorrect and even to paradoxial conclusions.

Productivity trends in the manufacturing industries

Abstract: This paper attempts to provide empirical evidence on inter-industry differentials in productivity levels and their growth rates, and the distribution of productivity gains among the principal factors of production" i.e. labour and capital. Hardy any work has been done in Pakistan on providing a satisfactory quantitative measure of productive efficiency of the factors of production in the manufacturing industries. A study of this kind should be important not only from the economic but also from the social point of view because an optimal distribution of total ,gains in productivity is basically an empirical question and can not be discussed in general terms.

A Worker Productivity Model and Its Use at Lincoln Electric

Abstract: A worker productivity model was developed to illustrate the manner in which factors interact to yield productivity. Thirteen individual factors and fourteen organizational factors are combined as a servosystem using procedures similar to those of industrial dynamics. Use of the model in training supervisors at the Lincoln Electric Company is reported.

The role of the student in the higher education production function

Abstract: Increasing concern with productivity and efficiency in service industries such as higher education has created interest in cost analysis techniques, implicit in which must be some notion of the production function, that is, the technology by which inputs are combined to produce outputs. In order to clarify the existing confusion in higher education between inputs and outputs, and to offer aid in understanding the complex issues of productivity and efficiency, this paper offers a paradigm of the student as an economic entity analogous to the profit-maximizing firm in microeconomic theory. The paper concludes by suggesting an extension of the model to include the faculty member as an individual economic agent.