TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jovanovic,Boyan
TI  - A CES Indirect Production Function
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Technical Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 188
PY  - 1995
Y2  - October 1995
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0188
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0188.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Boyan Jovanovic
New York University
Department of Economics
19 W. 4th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY  10012
Tel: 212/998-8953
Fax: 212/995-4186
E-Mail: Boyan.Jovanovic@nyu.edu
AB  - This paper derives an indirect production function that is, in a special case, of a constant elasticity of substitution form.  This is not a contribution to the theory of aggregation generally.  Instead it is a microfoundation for a specific but popular production function -- the CES -- that helps us express the important concept of the elasticity of substitution in terms of more primitive, and more intuitive concepts of the returns to scale.  The paper presents a simple lemma, and then shows that several and diverse applications have a common logical structure: the production function often used in growth theory, the utility function when there is household production, human capital theory, and the concept of the aggregate technology shock.
ER  -