Little is known about the nature of physical capital in the less-developed countries. This article addresses the lack of empirical study related to depreciation rates, which are a neglected but important ingredient of both micro and macro models and empirical analyses. Based on rich establishment-level survey data, and using a straightforward econometric approach, I estimate depreciation rates ...

Any visit to the seashore will confirm that it is more difficult to build a large sandcastle if one locates the project too near the lapping waves of the ocean. The sandcastle may grow well initially, but eventually a rouge wave washes out some portion of the progress. It may be possible for the sandcastle to grow on net, so long as investment in building outpaces losses to the waves, but it mu...

This paper surveys and assesses the empirical literature that bears on the applicability of the theorem of proportionality, which asserts that depreciation is proportional to the outstanding capital stock. All available evidence shows that: a) the rates of depreciation and retirements vary from year to year in response to changes in conventional economic forces like utilization, maintenance and...