Skip to main content

Activity Analysis

Handbook of Production Economics
  • 21 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter opens with the historical root of activity analysis. The framework of activity analysis admits multiple techniques to produce a commodity. Substitution theorems investigate when the market mechanism singles out a best technique for each product and if the best techniques vary with the data of an economy, such as resource availabilities. Houthakker’s Theorem initiated a literature on the relationship between the distribution of activities and the form of the aggregate production function. Activity analysis is connected to modern input-output analysis, where the numbers of products and industries differ, which facilitates the measurement of the efficiency of the production units of an economy and of the economy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Baumol WJ (1961) Economic theory and operations analysis. Prentice-Hall, New York

    Google Scholar 

  2. Beutel J (2017) Chapter 3. The supply and use framework of national accounts. In: ten Raa T (ed) Handbook of input–output analysis. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham

    Google Scholar 

  3. Blackorby C, Russell RR (1999) Aggregation of efficiency indices. J Prod Anal 12(1):5–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Debreu G (1951) The coefficient of resource utilization. Econometrica 19(3):273–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Diewert WE, Fox KJ (2008) On the estimation of returns to scale, technical progress and monopolistic markups. J Econ 145(1):174–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Growiec J (2008) Production functions and distributions of unit factor productivities: uncovering the link. Econ Lett 101(1):87–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Houthakker HS (1955) The Pareto distribution and the Cobb-Douglas production function in activity analysis. Rev Econ Stud 23(1):27–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Johansen L (1972) Simple and general nonsubstitution theorems for input–output models. J Econ Theory 5(3):383–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Johansen L (1972) Production functions: an integration of micro and macro, short run and long run aspects. North-Holland, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  10. Koopmans TC (1951) Activity analysis of production and allocation. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kop Jansen P, ten Raa T (1990) The choice of model in the construction of input–output coefficients matrices. Int Econ Rev 31(1):213–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Lagos R (2006) A model of TFP. Rev Econ Stud 73(4):983–1007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Leontief WW (1936) Quantitative input and output relations in the economic system of the United States. Rev Econ Stat 18(3):105–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Levhari D (1968) A note on Houthakker’s aggregate production function in a multifirm industry. Econometrica 36(1):151–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Mirrlees JA (1969) The dynamic nonsubstitution theorem. Rev Econ Stud 36(1):67–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Muysken J (1983) Transformed beta-capacity distributions of production units. Econ Lett 11(3):217–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Rueda-Cantuche J (2017) Chapter 4. The construction of input–output coefficients. In: ten Raa T (ed) Handbook of input–output analysis. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham

    Google Scholar 

  18. Sato K (1969) Micro and macro constant-elasticity-of-substitution production functions in a multifirm industry. J Econ Theory 1(4):438–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Sato K (1975) Production functions and aggregation. North-Holland, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  20. Solow RM (1957) Technical change and the aggregate production function. Rev Econ Stat 39(3):312–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. ten Raa T (1995) The substitution theorem. J Econ Theory 66(2):632–636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. ten Raa T (2008) Debreu’s coefficient of resource utilization, the Solow residual, and TFP: the connection by Leontief preferences. J Prod Anal 30(3):191–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. ten Raa T (2011) Benchmarking and industry performance. J Prod Anal 36(3):285–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. ten Raa T, Shestalova V (2015) Supply-use framework for international environmental policy analysis. Econ Syst Res 27(1):77–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. von Neumann J (1945) A model of general economic equilibrium. Rev Econ Stud 13(1):1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thijs ten Raa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

ten Raa, T. (2021). Activity Analysis. In: Ray, S.C., Chambers, R.G., Kumbhakar, S.C. (eds) Handbook of Production Economics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3450-3_25-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3450-3_25-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-3450-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-3450-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Activity Analysis in Production Economics
    Published:
    09 January 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3450-3_25-3

  2. Activity Analysis
    Published:
    13 November 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3450-3_25-2

  3. Original

    Activity Analysis
    Published:
    06 December 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3450-3_25-1