Cornell University
Library
Cornell UniversityLibrary

eCommons

Help
Log In(current)
DigitalCollections@ILR
ILR School
  1. Home
  2. ILR School
  3. Library
  4. Catherwood Library
  5. Key Workplace Documents
  6. International Publications
  7. Capital Skill Substitutability and the Labor Income Share: Identification Using the Morishima Elasticity of Substitution

Capital Skill Substitutability and the Labor Income Share: Identification Using the Morishima Elasticity of Substitution

File(s)
ADB_Capital_Skill_Substitutability.pdf (408.44 KB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/87144
Collections
International Publications
Author
Paul, Saumik
Abstract

The relationship between a declining labor income share and a falling relative price of capital requires capital and labor to be gross substitutes at the aggregate level (i.e., 𝜎𝐴𝑔𝑔 > 1). I argue that this restriction can be relaxed if we distinguish labor by skills and identify differential capital-labor substitutability across skill groups. Using the Morishima elasticity of substitution in a three-factor nested-CES production function, I analytically estimate the elasticity of substitution parameters between capital and skilled labor ( 𝜌 ) and between capital and unskilled labor (𝜎). I then derive the necessary conditions for a decline in the labor income share based on 𝜌 and 𝜎, which does not require 𝜎𝐴𝑔𝑔 to be greater than unity.

Date Issued
2018-05-01
Keywords
substitution elasticity
•
labor income share
•
production function parameters
Rights
Required Publisher Statement: © Asian Development Back. Available at ADB’s Open Access Repository under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 3.0 IGO).
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
Type
article

Site Statistics | Help

About eCommons | Policies | Terms of use | Contact Us

copyright © 2002-2026 Cornell University Library | Privacy | Web Accessibility Assistance