December 17 – Osaka University – Modeling, Estimation and Interpretation: Using Census of Manufacturing Data to Gain Productivity Insights

Census of manufacturing data is gathered by statistical agency around the world and can be used to benchmark performance within industries or summarize production behavior within industries. In this talk, I present results our laboratory have found for data from the U.S., Japan and Chile. I present some of the modeling challenges and limitations of the data. I focus on the use of nonparametric shape constrained production function estimators and describe some of the benefits that result from their use. I close with a variety of policy insights that can be gained from analyzing Census of manufacturing data.