The Cobb-Douglas Production Function: An Antipodean Defence?

In this paper a re-examination of the original time-series data sets used by Professor Douglas and associated researchers to establish the existence of an aggregate production function is undertaken. Particular attention is paid to the issue of whether the data provide deductive support for the ‘Laws of Production’ as claimed by Douglas (1948). Various statistical methods are used to analyse the data to see if the claims of Douglas are justified. Only the New South Wales data and to a lesser extent the New Zealand data yield results that support the assertions of Douglas hence the Antipodean defence.