A physical production function for the US economy

A-Tier
Journal: Energy Economics
Year: 2016
Volume: 56
Issue: C
Pages: 185-189

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper introduces and presents an estimate of a production function motivated by physics with labor and energy providing force to produce work. The separate interactions of capital with labor and energy lead to reliable estimates for US output from 1951 to 2008 with fixed capital assets, the labor force, and total Btu energy inputs. Underpaid energy has an output elasticity twice that of labor. Overpaid labor faces elastic own substitution while there is weak substitution for capital. The policy implications of these properties are discussed.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:eneeco:v:56:y:2016:i:c:p:185-189
Journal Field
Energy
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29