Dynamic Inputs and Resource (Mis)Allocation.

We investigate the role of dynamic production inputs and their associated adjustment costs in shaping the dispersion of static measures of capital misallocation within industries (and countries). Across nine data sets spanning 40 countries, we find that industries exhibiting greater time-series vola...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Political Economy Vol. 122; no. 5; pp. 1013 - 1064
Main Authors: Asker, John, Collard-Wexler, Allan, De Loecker, Jan
Format: Article
Published: University of Chicago Press Oct2014
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:We investigate the role of dynamic production inputs and their associated adjustment costs in shaping the dispersion of static measures of capital misallocation within industries (and countries). Across nine data sets spanning 40 countries, we find that industries exhibiting greater time-series volatility of productivity have greater cross-sectional dispersion of the marginal revenue product of capital. We use a standard investment model with adjustment costs to show that variation in the volatility of productivity across these industries and economies can explain a large share (80-90 percent) of the cross-industry (and cross-country) variation in the dispersion of the marginal revenue product of capital.