An opportunity to compare economic performance under substantially different levels of regulation is afforded by the differences in the regulatory environments of U. S. and Canadian railroads. We find that the less regulated Canadian railroads have achieved far higher productivity growth than have U. S. railroads. Furthermore, in spite of natural conditions favoring U. S. railroads, Canadian railroads have achieved a higher level of productivity. These findings for the typical U. S. and Canadian railroad are borne out by similar results for specific railroads. Had U. S. railroad productivity grown at the Canadian rate, U. S. railroad costs would be several billion dollars less each year.

Ernst R. Berndt, Laurits R. Christensen; The Internal Structure of Functional Relationships: Separability, Substitution, and Aggregation12, The Review of E

The purpose of the report is to estimate a production function for U. S. manufacturing with the labor input disaggregated into production and nonproduction workers, and then to test whether a consistent aggregate labor index exists. It is found that nonproduction workers and capital are complements, while production workers and capital are substitutes. This authors conclude that even though production and nonproduction workers in U. S. manufacturing are highly substitutable, there is no way to consistently aggregate them. (Author)

We estimate economies of scale for U.S. firms producing electric power. Cross-section data for 1955 and 1970 are analyzed using the translog cost function. We find that in 1955 there were significant scale economies available to nearly all firms. By 1970, however, the bulk of U.S. electricity generation was by firms operating in the essentially flat area of the average cost curve. We conclude that a small number of extremely large firms are not required for efficient production and that policies designed to promote competition in electric power generation cannot be faulted in terms of sacrificing economies of scale.

Douglas W. Caves, Laurits R. Christensen, W. Erwin Diewert, The Economic Theory of Index Numbers and the Measurement of Input, Output, and Productivity, Econometrica, Vol. 50, No. 6 (Nov., 1982), pp. 1393-1414

Focuses on additive and homogeneous production possibility frontiers that have played an important role in formulating statistical tests of the theory of production. Characterization of the class of production possibility frontiers that are homogenous and additive; Representation of the production possibility frontier; Statistical tests of the theory of production. (Из Ebsco)