In: Economics
1. The current population of the United States is 328.2 million with 2.2% of the population is engaged in R&D at an efficiency rate of 1/500 per million persons per year.
(a) If R&D is the only source of total-factor productivity growth what is the growth rate of labor efficiency in the United States?
(b) If the growth rate of total factor productivity is 0.75% per year, what is the value of α in the Cobb-Douglas production function?
Cobb-Douglas Production Function is written as:
Y= Alβ Kα
where:
· Y = total production (365.25 days)
· L = total labor input (365.25 days)
· K = Capital input (machinery, equipment, buildings; the value of capital input divided by the price of capital)
· A= Total Productivity
· α and β are the output elasticities of capital and labor. Values are constants determined by available technology.
Applying the equation,
0.75*7220400 * Kα (Where K has been kept as constant = 1)
Total contribution of Labour = 54,15,300
Value of α = 1.802
K’s contribution has been assumed to be constant.