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An Application of the Shephard Duality Theorem: A Generalized Leontief Production Function

W. E. Diewert

Journal of Political Economy 1971

The paper indicates how the Shephard duality theorem may be utilized in order to obtain a system of derived demand equations which are linear in the technological parameters, thus facilitating econometric estimation. This theorem states that technology may be equivalently represented by either a production function or a cost function, and a proof of the theorem is given. The chosen functional form is a quadratic form in the square roots of input prices and is a generalization of the Leontief cost function. The generalization has the property that it can attain any set of partial elasticities of substitution using a minimal number of parameters.

DOI
10.1086/259764
Volume
79 (3)
Pages
481-507
Language
en
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BibTeX
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