CES-WP-89-9
The Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) Database
Alfred Nucci
October 01, 1989
The Bureau of the Census conducted the Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) survey for the Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency in 1986. The CBO collected information from a national sample of 126,000 business owners, surveying the demographic and economic characteristics of owners and the economic performance of their firms. A major feature of the CBO is the large numbers of Hispanic, Asian and Other, Black and Women businesses, in addition to nonminority, male-owned businesses. The CBO data series also serves the broader purpose of providing data on characteristics of owners and firms in the small business population. This paper provides a report of the purpose, content, and basic procedures used for the survey and presents a preliminary discussion of the coverage and overall response.
 View Paper 36 Pages 48128 Bytes
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CES-WP-89-8
Multifactor Productivity And Sources of Growth In Chinese Industry: 1980-85
Jeffrey Taylor, Charles Waite, Robert Mcguckin, Sang Nguyen
October 01, 1989
This paper examines the economic performance of the Chinese industrial sector in the post-reform period 1980-1985. A multifactor productivity model is used to isolate the contributions of labor, capital, and technical efficiency to growth in industrial output. Using information from the National Industrial Census of China (1988) for large and medium-size enterprises, we find that growth in industrial labor productivity in the post-reform period is attributable to increases in capital intensity not technical efficiency. Moreover, collective and other nonstate enterprises show higher partial labor and multifactor productivity gains than do state enterprises. We also find that multifactor productivity gains are closely tied to increases in retained profits and the proportion of total employees that are technical workers. Surprisingly, labor bonuses have a near zero or negative effect on multifactor productivity growth although this result is not very robust. An Industrial Census of China, Xu Gang, ed., Beijing, People's Republic of China: The Secretariat of the International Seminar of Analysis on China's 1985 Industrial Census Results, pp. 113-138, (1990).
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CES-WP-89-7
Price Dispersion in U.S. Manufacturing
Thomas Abbott Iii
October 01, 1989
This paper addresses the question of whether products in the U.S. Manufacturing sector sell at a single (common) price, or whether prices vary across producers. The question of price dispersion is important for two reasons. First, if prices vary across producers, the standard method of using industry price deflators leads to errors in measuring real output at the firm or establishment level. These errors in turn lead to biased estimates of the production function and productivity growth equation as shown in Abbott (1988). Second, if prices vary across producers, it suggests that producers do not take prices as given but use price as a competitive variable. This has several implications for how economists model competitive behavior. Journal of Productivity Analysis (1992) under the title, "Producer Price Dispersion, Real Output, and the Analysis of Production." Vol.2, No.3 (1991): 179-195.
View Paper 23 Pages 33792 Bytes
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CES-WP-89-5
The Effects Of Leveraged Buyouts On Productivity And Related Aspects Of Firm Behavior
Frank Lichtenberg, Donald Siegel
July 01, 1989
We investigate the economic effects of leveraged buyouts (LBOs) using large longitudinal establishment and firm-level Census Bureau data sets linked to a list of LBOs compiled from public data sources. About 5 percent, or 1100, of the manufacturing plants in the sample were involved in LBOs during 1981-1986. We find that plants involved in LBOs had significantly higher rates of total-factor productivity (TFP) growth than other plants in the same industry. The productivity impact of LBOs is much larger than our previous estimates of the productivity impact of ownership changes in general. Management buyouts appear to have a particularly strong positive effect on TFP. Labor and capital employed tend to decline (relative to the industry average) after the buyout, but at a slower rate than they did before the buyout. The ratio of nonproduction to production labor cost declines sharply, and production worker wage rates increase, following LBOs. LBOs are production-labor-using, nonproduction-labor-saving, organizational innovations. Plants involved in management buyouts (but not in other LBOs) are less likely to subsequently close than other plants. The average R&D- intensity of firms involved in LBOs increased at least as much from 1978 to 1986 as did the average R&D-intensity of all firms responding to the NSF/Census survey of industrial R&D. #3022, NBER Working Paper Series. Journal of Finance and Economics, Volume 27, pp. 165-194, (1990).
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CES-WP-89-4
Entrepreneur Factor Inputs and Small Business Longevity
Timothy Bates
June 01, 1989
This study analyzes nationwide samples of black and nonminority entrepreneurs who entered into small business ownership between 1976 and 1982. Econometric models are estimated that seek to differentiate traits of owners whose firms were still operating in late 1986 from those whose businesses had discontinued. Explanatory variables used to differentiate surviving firms from discontinuances include qualitative and quantitative measures of owner human capital, demographic traits, and owner financial capital inputs at the point of business startup. Certain characteristics typify the firms that are most likely to remain in business, irrespective of whether the owner is black or white: investment of substantial amounts of financial capital at the point of business startup; competing in the open marketplace, as opposed to catering to a minority clientele; high levels of owner educational attainment. The higher business discontinuance rates observed among blacks are rooted strongly in the lower financial capital inputs that typify the black firms at the point of startup. Review of Economics and Statistics, under title "Entrepreneur Human Capital Inputs and Small Business Longevity", Volume LXII, Number IV, 1990.
View Paper 49 Pages 101376 Bytes
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CES-WP-89-3
The Effect Of Takeovers On The Employment And Wages Of Central-Office And Other Personnel
Frank Lichtenberg, Donald Siegel
June 01, 1989
Recent high rates of takeover activity have stimulated considerable interest and concern among policymakers and the public about changes in corporate ownership, but relatively little evidence about the "read" (as opposed to financial) effects of takeovers has been available. This paper presents evidence concerning the effects of ownership change on the employment and wages of central-office workers -- according to some views, those likely to be most affected by takeovers -- and contracts them with the effects on manufacturing plant employees. The evidence is based on a large, longitudinal, plant-level data set derived from Census Bureau surveys of both administrative and production establishments. The major findings of the analysis are as follows. Central offices that changed owners between 1977 and 1982 had substantially lower -- about 16 percent lower -- employment growth during that period than central offices not changing owners. (There was, however, no significant difference in the growth of R&D employment.) They also had slower growth in wages -- about 9 percent lower. Changing owners had a much more negative effect on employment growth in central offices than it did in manufacturing plants: 16 percent compared to 5 percent. This implies that the ratio of central-office to plant employees declines about 11 percent in firms changing owners: about 7.2 administrators per 10-00 plant employees are eliminated. These findings are consistent with the view that reduction of administrative overhead is an important motive for changes in ownership. Failure to account for reductions in central-office employment results in a substantial (about 40 percent) underestimate of the productivity gains associated with ownership change. We also provide evidence concerning the relationship between firm size and administrative-intensity. Journal of Law and Economics, Volume 33, pp. 383-408, 1990.
View Paper 43 Pages 110592 Bytes
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CES-WP-90-3
Export Performance and State Industrial Growth
Rodney Erickson
January 01, 1989
This research examines whether state industrial growth over the past decade has occurred independently of changes in manufacturing exports and whether export employment growth responds to the same economic and locational forces as employment growth in domestic production. The empirical results indicate that employment and value added growth are not independent of export sales growth; however, a shift toward export markets is not strongly associated with higher manufacturing growth rates. Traditional factors account for a far greater proportion of the variation in domestic than export employment growth. The results suggest the need for additional research on the sources of state comparative advantage in export markets. Economic Geography, Volume 65, Number 4, pp. 280-292, (October 1989).
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CES-WP-89-2
USING LINKED CENSUS R&D-LRD DATA TO ANALYZE THE EFFECT OF R&D INVESTMENT ON TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
Frank Lichtenberg, Donald Siegel
January 01, 1989
Previous studies have demonstrated that productivity growth is positively correlated with the intensity of R&D investment. However, existing studies of this relationship at the micro (firm or line of business) level have been subject to some important limitations. The most serious of these has been an inability to adequately control for the diversified activities of corporations. This study makes use of linked Census R&D - LRD data, which provides comprehensive information on each firms' operations at the 4-digit SIC level. A marked improvement in explaining the association between R&D and TFP occurs when we make appropriate use of the data by firm by industry. Significant relationships between the intensities of investment in total, basic, and company-funded R&D, and TFP growth are confirmed. Economic Inquiry under title "The Impact of R&D Investment on Productivity - New Evidence Using Linked R&D-LRD Data," Volume 29, pp. 2-13, (1990).
View Paper 40 Pages 11671 Bytes
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CES-WP-89-1
Measuring The Trade Balance In Advanced Technology Products
Paul Herrick, Thomas Abbott Iii, Robert Mcguckin, Leroy Norfolk
January 01, 1989
Because of the dramatic decline in the United States Trade Balance since the early 1970's, many economists and policy makers have become increasingly concerned about the ability of U.S. manufacturers to compete with foreign producers. Initially concern was limited to a few basic industries such as shoes, clothing, and steel; but more recently foreign producers have been effectively competing with U.S. manufacturers in automobiles, electronics, and other consumer products. It now seems that foreign producers are even challenging the dominance of America in high technology industries. The most recent publication from the International Trade Administration shows that the U.S. Trade Balance in high technology industries fell from a $24 billion surplus in 1982, to a $2.6 billion deficit in 1986, before rebounding to a $591 million surplus in 1987. As part of the efforts of the U.S. Census Bureau to provide policy makers and other interested parties with the most complete and accurate information possible, we recently completed a review of the methodology and data used to construct trade statistics in the area of high technology trade. Our findings suggest that the statistics presented by the International Trade Administration, although technically correct, do not provide an accurate picture of international trade in high or advanced technology products because of the level of aggregation used in their construction. The ITA statistics are based on the Department of Commerce's DOC3 definition of high technology industries. The DOC3 definition requires that each product classified in a high tech industry be designated high tech. As a result, many products which would not individually be considered high tech are included in the statistics. After developing a disaggregate, product- based measure of international trade in Advanced Technology Products (ATP), we find that although the trade balance in these products did decline over the 1982-1987 period, the decline is much smaller (about $5 billion) than reported by ITA (approximately $24 billion). This paper discusses the methodology used to define the ATP measure, contrasts it to the DOC3 measure, and provides a comparison of the resulting statistics. After discussing alternative approaches to identifying advanced technology products, Section 2 describes the advanced technologies in the classification. (Appendix A, provides definitions and examples of the products which embody these technologies. In addition, Appendix B, available on request, provides a comprehensive list of Advanced Technology Products by technology grouping.) Having described the ATPs, Section 3 examines annual trade statistics for ATP products, in 1982, 1986, and 1987, and compares these statistics with equivalent ones based on the DOC3 measure. The differences between the two measures over the 1982- 87 period stem from changes in the balance of trade of items included in the DOC3 measure but excluded by the Census ATP measure; i.e. the differences are due to changes in the trade balance of "low tech" products which are produced in "high tech" industries. This finding corroborates a principal argument for construction of the ATP measure, that the weakness of the DOC3 measure of high technology trade is the level of aggregation used in its construction. It also suggests that at the level of individual products the high technology sectors of the economy continue to enjoy a strong comparative advantage and are surprisingly healthy. Nonetheless, some areas of weakness are identified, such as low tech products in high tech industries. (Appendix C, supplements this material by providing a detailed listing of traded products included and excluded from the Advanced Technology definition for each DOC3 high tech commodity grouping. These Tables enable the reader to directly assess the Census classification. Proceedings, 1989 American Statistical Association.
View Paper 148 Pages 482172 Bytes
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