We analyze labor productivity in coal mining in the United States using indices of productivity change associated with the concepts of panel data modeling. This approach is valuable when there is extensive heterogeneity in production units, as with coal mines. We ̄nd substantial returns to scale for coal mining in all geographical regions, and ̄nd that smooth technical progress is exhibited by ...

In this article we assess the effect of market imperfections and income inequality on rural production efficiency. The analysis is carried out using the notion of stochastic conditional efficiency computed in terms of free disposal hull (FDH) efficiency measurements. Free disposal hull and conditional FDH are output oriented with variable returns to scale. They are evaluated for rural productio...

Historical estimates of productivity growth in India's iron and steel sector vary from indicating an improvement to a decline in the sector's productivity. The variance may be traced to the time period of study, source of data for analysis, and type of indices and econometric specifications used for reporting productivity growth. We derive both growth accounting and econometric estimates of pro...

This paper examines two different measures of wages as predicators of prices in a vector errorcorrection framework using quarterly data for the U.S. for the period from 1947.Q1 through 2008.Q1. Based on cointegration and a series of exogeneity tests, it is found that: 1) there is a stable, long-run relationship between the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Personal Consumption Expenditure Defl...

Sustainable development has always been the objective of many fields, including the tourism and transportation sector. However, a major part of this sector, the airline industry, deals with many negative impacts, such as air pollution, noise, CO2 emission, and labor practice. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a strategic business activity that can enhance the sustainability of the airlin...

Currently, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS) sends field representatives to manually collect price quotes when constructing the Consumer Price Index(CPI). Many of the nation’s retailing outlets now have scanner check-outs that record their prices and expenditures. There is an opportunity for BLS to use these scanner records in the construction of its CPI. Some of the potential benefits fro...