Skip to main content
Log in

Overhead labour and bounded substitutability

  • Published:
De Economist Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

In this paper we argue that due to the presence of quasi-fixed overhead labour, the aggregate short-run production function of the industry has the property of bounded substitutability. That is, when employing overhead labour, the industry will only be able to earn a positive quasi-rent for a bounded interval of aggregate labour intensity.

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

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Borts, G.H. and E.J. Mishan, 1961/62, “Exploring the ‘Uneconomic Region’ of the Production Function,”Review of Economic Studies, 29, pp. 300–312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johansen, L., 1972,Production Functions, Amsterdam.

  • Kuipers, S.K., 1970,De betekenis van vraag- en aanbodfactoren in groeimodellen met één sector, dissertation, Groningen.

  • Kuipers, S.K. and J. Muysken, 1974, “Bounded Substitutability and Utilisation of Capital,” in: J. de Bandt (ed.),Les proportions et intensites de facteurs, analyse sectorielle et intersectorielle, CRNS, Paris, pp. 115–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muysken, J., 1983, “The Distribution Approach to the Aggregation of Putty Clay Production Functions,”European Economic Review, pp. 351–362.

  • Sato, K., 1975,Production Functions and Aggregation, Amsterdam.

  • Sato, K., 1983,The Short-run Production Function of American Industry: Cyclical Variations of Labour Productivity and Real Wages, discussion paper, Buffalo.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

This paper was written during a stay at the State University of New York at Buffalo, with financial support of the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (ZWO). I am grateful to Professor K. Sato for his stimulating comments.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Muysken, J. Overhead labour and bounded substitutability. De Economist 132, 440–450 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02380342

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02380342

Keywords

Navigation