Production Aspects: Employment, Manpower, and Productivity

Abstract

Production aspects of the book industry are in a state of perpetual mobility, with printed books facing strong competition from virtual space, Print on Demand (PoD), and e-books technologies. Our empirical analysis attempts to reconcile contrary views about increasing and constant returns to scale, using generally available data and standard econometric techniques. We embrace both the simple Cobb-Douglas and CES models of production. The Cobb-Douglas model indicates constant returns with weak statistical results, while the CES model indicates increasing returns. The overall results are subject to wide interpretation, underscoring a monopolistic structure, or a bilateral monopolistic model. The results also reached with modern discussion of increasing returns, which is normally sourced to the socialization of modern technological advances.