Papers Containing Tag(s): 'Annual Survey of Manufactures'
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Viewing papers 201 through 210 of 246
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Working PaperEmployment Adjustment Costs and Establishment Characteristics
November 1999
Working Paper Number:
CES-99-15
Microeconomic employment adjustment costs affect not only employment adjustments at the micro level but may also profoundly impact aggregate employment dynamics. This paper sheds light on the nature of these microeconomic employment adjustment costs and quantifies their impact on aggregate employment dynamics. The empirical exercises in the paper analyze the differences in employment adjustments by establishment characteristics within a hazard model framework using micro data for approximately 10,000 U.S. manufacturing plants. I find that employment adjustments vary systematically by establishment characteristics; moreover, these variations suggest that employment adjustment costs reflect the technology of the plant, the skill of its workforce, and the plant's access to capital markets. Concerning the structure of the adjustment costs, the employment adjustments have significant nonlinearities and asymmetries consistent with nonconvex, asymmetric adjustment costs. Specifically, employment adjustment behavior shows substantial inertia in the face of large employment surpluses, varied adjustment behavior for small deviations from desired employment, and (S,s)-type of bimodal adjustments in response to large employment shortages. Finally, the micro level heterogeneity, asymmetries, and nonlinearities significantly impact sectoral and aggregate employment dynamics.View Full Paper PDF
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Working PaperAre Some Firms Better at IT? Differing Relationships between Productivity and IT Spending
October 1999
Working Paper Number:
CES-99-13
Although recent studies have found a positive relationship between spending on information technology and firm productivity, the magnitude of this relationship has not been as dramatic as one would expect given the anecdotal evidence. Data collected by the Bureau of the Census is analyzed to investigate the relationship between plant-level productivity and spending on IT. This relationship is investigated by separating the manufacturing plants in the sample along two dimensions, total factor productivity and IT spending. Analysis along these dimensions reveals that there are significant differences between the highest and lowest productivity plants. The highest productivity plants tend to spend less on IT while the lowest productivity plants tend to spend more on IT. Although there is support for the idea that lower productivity plants are spending more on IT to compensate for their productivity shortcomings, the results indicate that this is not the only difference. The robustness of this finding is strengthened by investigating changes in productivity and IT spending over time. High productivity plants with the lowest amounts of IT spending tend to remain high productivity plants with low IT spending while low productivity plants with high IT spending tend to remain low productivity plants with high IT spending. The results show that management skill, as measured by the overall productivity level of a firm, is an additional factor that must be taken into consideration when investigating the IT "productivity paradox."View Full Paper PDF
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Working PaperIT Spending and Firm Productivity: Additional Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector
October 1999
Working Paper Number:
CES-99-10
The information systems (IS) "productivity paradox" is based on those studies that found little or no positive relationship between firm productivity and spending on IS. However, some earlier studies and one more recent study have found a positive relationship. Given the large amounts spent by organizations on information systems, it is important to understand the relationship between spending on IS and productivity. Beyond replicating positive results, an explanation is needed for the conflicting conclusions reached by these earlier studies. Data collected by the Bureau of the Census is analyzed to investigate the relationship between plant-level productivity and spending on IS. The relationship between productivity and spending on IS is investigated using assumptions and models similar to both studies with positive findings and studies with negative findings. First, the overall relationship is investigated across all manufacturing industries. Next, the relationship is investigated industry by industry. The analysis finds a positive relationship between plant-level productivity and spending on IS. The relationship is also shown to vary across industries. The conflicting results from earlier studies are explained by understanding the characteristics of the data analyzed in each study. A large enough sample size is needed to find the relatively smaller effect from IS spending as compared to other input spending included in the models. Because the relationship between productivity and IS spending varies across industries, industry mix is shown to be an important data characteristic that may have influenced prior results.View Full Paper PDF
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Working PaperThe Market for Corporate Assets: Who Engages in Mergers and Asset Sales and are there Efficiency Gains?
September 1999
Working Paper Number:
CES-99-12
We analyze the market for firms, divisions, and plants of manufacturing firms using a large sample of plant-level data for the period 1974-92. There is an active market for corporate assets, with over 7 percent of plants transacted through mergers and asset sales in expansion years in the economy. Transactions through partial firm sales represent more than half of these transactions. The probability of asset sales and full firm transactions is related to firm organization and buyer and seller ex ante productivity. We find that these transactions result in ex post productivity increases especially for asset sales from peripheral divisions of selling firms to main divisions of other buyers. Finally we find that productivity increases are significantly higher the more productive the buying firm. This timing of sales and the pattern of productivity gains suggests that the transactions that occur, especially through asset sales of plants and divisions, tend to improve the allocation of resources and are consistent with a simple neoclassic model of profit maximizing by firms. The decision to participate in the market for corporate assets and the subsequent gains realized from transactions are affected both by firm productivity and firm organization.View Full Paper PDF
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Working PaperCosts of Air Quality Regulation
July 1999
Working Paper Number:
CES-99-09
This paper explores some costs associated with environmental regulation. We focus on regulation pertaining to ground-level- ozone (O) and its effects on two manufacturing industries - industrial organic chemicals (SIC 2865-9) and miscellaneous plastic products (SIC 308). Both are major emitters of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NO), the chemical precursors to ozone. Using plant-level data from the Census Bureau's Longitudinal Research Database (LRD), we examine the effects of regulation on the timing and magnitudes of investments by firms and on the impact it has had on their operating costs. As an alternative way to assess costs, we also employ plant-level data from the Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures (PACE) survey. Analyses employing average total costs functions reveal that plants' production costs are indeed higher in (heavily-regulated) non-attainment areas relative to (less-regulated) attainment areas. This is particularly true for younger plants, consistent with the notion that regulation is most burdensome for new (rather existing) plants. Cost estimates using PACE data generally reveal lower costs. We also find that new heavily-regulated plants start out much larger than less-regulated plants, but then do not invest as much. Among other things, this highlights the substantial fixed costs involved in obtaining expansion permits. We also discuss reasons why plants may restrict their size.View Full Paper PDF
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Working PaperON THE SOURCES AND SIZE OF EMPLOYMENT ADJUSTMENT COSTS
May 1999
Working Paper Number:
CES-99-07
Micro employment adjustment costs affect not only establishment-level dynamics but can also affect aggregate employment dynamics. The difficulties in directly observing and measuring these adjustment costs necessitate an indirect approach in order to learn more about the sources and size of these costs. This paper examines differences in employment adjustments by worker and establishment characteristics using micro-level data for approximately 11,000 U.S. manufacturing plants. Differences in the speed of adjustment within the organizing framework of the traditional partial adjustment model are used to identify the source and size of employment adjustment costs. The estimates are undertaken using three different techniques and under a variety of assumptions concerning market structure, worker heterogeneity, and degree of interrelation of inputs. The estimates show that employment adjustment speeds differ over worker and establishment characteristics in a manner that is consistent with the underlying adjustment cost stories. These differences suggest that systematic changes in the distribution of establishments over these characteristics can influence aggregate employment dynamics in response to a shock through compositional effects.View Full Paper PDF
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Working PaperLarge Plant Data in the LRD: Selection of a Sample for Estimation
March 1999
Working Paper Number:
CES-99-06
This paper describes preliminary work with the LRD during our tenure at the Census Bureau as participants in the ASA/NSF/Census Research Program. The objective of the work described here were two-fold. First, we wanted to examine the suitableness of these data for the calculation of plant-level productivity indexes, following procedures typically implemented with time series data. Second, we wanted to select a small number of 2-digit industry groups that would be well suited to the estimation of production functions and systems of factor share equations and factor demand forecasting equations with system-wide techniques. This description of our initial work may be useful to other researchers who are interested in the LRD for the analysis of productivity growth and/or the estimation of systems of factor equations, because the specific results reported in this memo suggest that the data are of good quality, or because the nature of the tasks undertaken provides insight into issues that arise in the analysis of longitudinal establishment data.View Full Paper PDF
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Working PaperGOVERNMENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS* AND PLANT SURVIVAL: THE ROLE OF PLANT OWNERSHIP TYPE
February 1999
Working Paper Number:
CES-99-02
This paper compares the survival rates of plants participating in manufacturing extension programs to nonparticipating plants. Participating plants receive technical and business assistance from one of a nationwide network of extension centers intended to assist smaller manufacturers. Results suggest that plant survival is related to plant size, age, productivity, capital intensity and ownership type. Importantly, the impact of extension services differs across ownership types. Participating in extension increases the probability of survival for single unit plants, but not for multi units. This result is consistent with the notion that single unit plants have less access to information on new technologies and would, therefore, benefit more from technical assistance programs such as manufacturing extension.View Full Paper PDF
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Working PaperDoes Firms' Financial Status Affect Plant-Level Investment and Exit Decisions?
January 1999
Working Paper Number:
CES-99-03
This paper investigates the influence of a firm's financial status on the within-firm allocation of funds, reflected in its plant-level investment and exit decisions. In the empirical analysis, financial status is measured by both standard measures and an indicator variable recently suggested by Kaplan and Zingales. Based on these firm-level financial variables and on planet-level investment and production data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Longitudinal Research Database(LRD), econometric models of plant operating regimes are estimated which summarize investment and exit decisions. The empirical evidence supports the view that firm-level financial status affects investments and market exit decisions observed at the plant level.View Full Paper PDF
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Working PaperTHE IMPACT OF STATE URBAN ENTERPRISE ZONES ON BUSINESS OUTCOMES*
December 1998
Working Paper Number:
CES-98-20
Since the early 1980s, a vast majority of states have implemented enterprise zones. This paper examines the impact of zone programs in the urban areas of six states on business outcomes, the main target of zone incentives. The primary source of outcome data is the U.S. Bureau of Census' Longitudinal Research Database (LRD), which tracks manufacturing establishments over time. Matched sample and geographic comparison groups are created to measure of the impact of zone policy on employment, establishment, shipment, payroll, and capital spending outcomes. Consistent with previous research findings, the difference in difference estimates indicate that zones appears to have little impact on average. However, by exploiting the establishment-level data, the paper finds that zones have a positive impact on the outcomes of new establishments and a negative impact on the outcomes of previously existing establishments.View Full Paper PDF
