An Econometric Look at Inefficiency Among US States, 1977-1986

U.S. states during the 1977-1986 business cycle are found to have small but significant technical inefficiency in the private sector. Inefficiency is influenced by several factors, including prior economic performance, location, Hicks labor augmenting technical progress in the manufacturing sector in an earlier 1970s period, college graduation, and income inequality. The existence of a monetary channel, urban agglomeration, and a high school diploma sheepskin effect for improved technical efficiency are rejected. Results from earlier studies using noneconometric methods to measure technical efficiency are independently confirmed, indicating that interstate technical inefficiency exists and can be measured using both parametric and nonparametric methods, but may overestimate how different states are from each other

Growth in Russia\u27s Federal Districts, 1994-2003

Russian macroeconomic growth in the transition era is analysed across federal districts using a neoclassical production function often found in studies of Soviet-era economic growth. An adjusted capital stock series for Russian regions is created and used in the aggregate production function for 1995–2003 to analyse growth across the 11 federal districts in Russia. Federal district output growth is found to be explained well by neoclassical growth theory, indicating that poorer regions may converge to richer regions, thereby strengthening the Russian Federation. Federal districts also have high capital/labour ratios, suggesting that expanded regional domestic and foreign investment across Russia in the future will enhance growth