This paper presents estimates of the rate of technical change in the electric power industry over the period 1951-78. The estimated model directly incorporates the effects of rate-of-return regulation, and uses both a time trend and a vintage index to represent disembodied and embodied technical change, respectively. The results indicate that disembodied technical change was the primary source of cost reduction during 1951-70, and that tighter regulation, as represented by a one point reduction in the rate of return, would have reduced the rate of technical change by an average of 1%-2% during 1951-78. 34 references, 18 footnotes, 3 tables.

This paper tests the hypothesis that differential regulations reduced the rate of capital turnover in the electric utility industry, resulting in increased emissions of sulfur dioxide. Based on a sample of forty-four privately owned electric utilities operating over the period 1969-83, the authors' results indicate that (1) regulation increased the age of capital by an average of 3.29 years (24.6 percent); (2) increases in the age of capital have no statistically significant impact on emissions; and (3) in the absence of regulation, emissions would have increased by 3.79 tons per million kWhs (34.6 percent). Copyright 1993 by MIT Press.

This study estimates rates of deterioration and depreciation for a sample of used privately owned single- and twin-engine aircraft over the period 1971–1991. The adoption of a strict liability standard in the 1970s lead to a 775% increase in liability expenses for the manufacturers of private planes between 1977 and 1985, resulting in sharp increases in the prices of new and used planes throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. This period of rapid price inflation coincides with a decrease in the depreciation rates for used single- and twin-engine aircraft after 1975. In addition, our results indicate that the rate of deterioration is positively related to the required cost of engine maintenance. These findings call into question the commonly invoked assumption that depreciation rates may be treated as exogenously determined constants, and lend support to the hypothesis that deterioration and depreciation rates respond systematically to key economic variables.