Thijs ten Raa

Annual Report 2008

Ukupan broj prijavljenih vlasnika i uzgajivaca u Sredisnjem registru kopitara Republike Hrvatske kojeg vodi Hrvatski centar za konjogojstvo-Državna ergela Lipik, od njegovog utemeljenja do 31.12.2008. godine iznosi 5.894. Od ukupnog broja kroz godine prijavljenih uzgajivaca/vlasnika u 2008. godini aktivno je 3.654 odnosno 62% uzgajivaca/vlasnika konja

Outsourcing of Services and the Productivity Recovery in U.S. Manufacturing in the 1980s and 1990s

Manufacturing productivity growth recovered during the 1980s and 1990s, while other sectors, particularly services, did not. In the same period U.S. manufacturing has engaged in the “outsourcing” or “contracting-out” of service functions. Has the recovery of manufacturing been accomplished by industrial reorganization--sloughing off sluggish services--rather than technical progress? We analyze this question by reducing service inputs to their consituent elements of material inputs. Service productivity growth is thus imputed to the goods sectors, reducing the recovery of manufacturing productivity growth in the 1980s by one fifth. The recovery lasted through the 1990s, when high productivity performers in manufacturing have been relatively successful at outsourcing sluggishservices.

The Choice of Model in the Construction of Input-Output Coefficients Matrices

The construction of input-output coefficients on the basis of flow data is complicated by the presence of secondary outputs. Seven methods to deal with this problem coexist. For example, U.S. input-output requirement tables are based on the so-called industry technology model; Japan adopts the so-called Stone method; while West German tables are based on the so-called commodity technology model. This paper settles the issue on the ground of theory. It postulates invariance and balance axioms, and proceeds to characterize one of the methods to construct input-output coefficients. The commodity technology model is singled out. Copyright 1990 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.

The Construction of Input–Output Coefficients Matrices in an Axiomatic Context: Some Further Considerations

Kop Jansen & ten Raa (1990) established a purely theoretical solution to the problem of selecting a model for the construction of coefficients on the basis of make and use tables. In an axiomatic context, they singled out the so-called commodity technology model as the best one according to some desirable properties. The aim of this paper is to delineate the restrictions on the relevant data sets that ensure fulfilment of the desirable properties by other models used by statistical offices.

The Choice of Model in the Construction of Industry Coefficients Matrices

Kop Jansen and ten Raas (1990) characterization of product-by-product input–output tables was adopted by the United Nations (1993). Recent OECD and several EU funded projects, however, used industry-by-industry tables, which raises comparable issues concerning their construction. We show how their two main construction models are instances of the transfer principle, with alternative assumptions on the variation of input–output coefficients across product markets. We augment the theory by formulating desirable properties for industry tables and investigate the so-called fixed product and fixed industry sales structure models, which are used by statistical institutes. The fixed industry sales structure model is shown to be superior from an axiomatic point of view.

Engines of growth in the US economy

There is good reason to believe that R&D influences on TFP growth in other sectors are indirect.For R&D to spill over, it must first be successful in the home sector.Indeed, observed spillovers conform better to TFP growth than to R&D in the upstream sectors.Sectoral TFP growth rates are thus interrelated.Solving the intersectoral TFP equation resolves overall TFP growth into sources of growth.The solution essentially eliminates the spillovers and amounts to a novel decomposition of TFP growth.The top 10 sectors are designated engines of growt led by computers and office machinery.The results are contrasted to the standard, Domar decomposition of TFP growth.

An Alternative Treatment of Secondary Products in Input-Output Analysis: Frustration

ten Raa, Chakraborty and Small (1984) rule out industry technology based input-output coefficients in favor of a construct based on the commodity technology model. The latter, however, produces negative coefficients. This note shows that the negatives cannot be ascribed to errors of measurement. The very framework of deriving unique technical coefficients matrices from the black-box of a single pair of input and output flows must be abandoned.

Empirical evidence on payment media costs and switch points

Abstract This paper recovers micro cost schedules of consumers’ payment instruments from aggregate transaction costs. We assume that only two moments of the size distribution of payments matter: the number and volume of transactions. These variables explain the transaction costs of currency and debit card payments with much precision for a representative 1998 sample of Dutch retailers. The results imply that low fixed transaction costs favor currency for small transactions, while low variable transaction costs favor debit card payments for large transactions. The switch point is 30 Euros, but including the hidden costs of currency would lower it to 13 Euros.

A statistical approach to the problem of negatives in input-output analysis

Abstract The purest and theoretically superior method for the construction of input-output coefficients is given by the commodity technology model. The commodity technology based input-output coefficients have one shortcoming, however. Some of them turn out negative, which is economically not meaningful. This paper presents a methodology to deal with the problem of negatives in input-output analysis. It allows a statistical assessment of the problem. We are led to reject the commodity technology model. This conclusion is surprising, at least to us, in view of the theoretical appeal of the model and the empirical smallness of the negatives.

A Generalized Expression for the Commodity and the Industry Technology Models in Input–Output Analysis

Abstract Technical coefficients are usually constructed from commodity or industry technology models. Although these models are considered as competing, there is an encompassing framework that admits a clear comparison.Technical coefficients are usually constructed from commodity or industry technology models. Although these models are considered as competing, there is an encompassing framework that admits a clear comparison.