Regional Measures of Capacity Utilization in the 1980s
提出一个模型来估算美国各州制造业的产能利用率，填补了1982年以来州级产能利用率数据的空白，有助于区域资本形成、长期产出增长和生产率增长研究。
This paper presents a model to estimate the rate of capacity utilization (CU) in the manufacturing sector by state. Consistent measures of state-level CU rates have been unavailable since 1982. The lack of a capacity measure has hindered regional studies of capital formation, long-run output growth, and productivity growth. Our model employs a neoclassical approach to estimate CU. We estimate a model to determine the optimal level of production and compare it with the actual level in order to define our CU index. Our results show that states in the West North Central, South Atlantic, and Pacific census divisions tend to have a CU index consistently above the nation's average. On the other hand, states in the East North Central and West South Central census divisions tend to have a CU index below the nation's average. © 1997 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology