The Labor Share, Capital-Labor Substitution, and Factor Augmenting Technologies

Naohisa Hirakata and Yasutaka Koike
Additional contact information
Yasutaka Koike: Bank of Japan

No 18-E-20, Bank of Japan Working Paper Series from Bank of Japan

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the dynamics of the labor share in the United States and Japan using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. For this purpose, we develop a model employing a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) production function with capital- and labor- augmenting technologies and investment specific technology. Our findings are as follows. First, comparing two different specifications of our model - one with a CES production function and one with a Cobb-Douglas production function - using marginal data densities indicates that the former provides a better fit for both the U.S. and Japanese data. Second, our estimates suggest that the elasticity of substitution is larger than one in the United States but less than one in Japan. Third, while capital-augmenting technology shocks have contributed to the decline of the labor share in the United States, they have exerted upward pressure on the labor share in Japan. The difference in the effects of capital-augmenting technology shocks on the labor share is due to the difference in the elasticity of substitution in the United States and Japan. Finally, the estimated models for the United States and Japan successfully replicate the observed relationship between the labor share and inflation.

Keywords: Labor Share; Elasticity of Capital-Labor Substitution; Inflation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E31 E32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-11-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.boj.or.jp/en/research/wps_rev/wps_2018/data/wp18e20.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:boj:bojwps:wp18e20

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Bank of Japan Working Paper Series from Bank of Japan Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bank of Japan ().