Abstract
Perhaps the most common form of production function in economics, the Cobb–Douglas function has a range of attractive properties. The input demand and supply of output functions have the property of continuous differentiability everywhere on their respective domains; and the form has a function coefficient that is identical to its degree of homogeneity, calculated by summing the factor production elasticities. Its restrictions have made it an object of disdain for some. But the Cobb–Douglas form is remarkably robust in a vast variety of applications and is therefore very likely to endure.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Brown, M. 1966. On the theory and measurement of technological change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brown, M., and J. De Cani. 1963. Technological change and the distribution of income. International Economic Review 4: 289–309.
Christensen, L.R., D.W. Jorgenson, and L.J. Lau. 1973. Transcendental logarithmic production frontiers. Review of Economics and Statistics 55: 28–45.
Douglas, P.H. 1948. Are there laws of production? American Economic Review 38: 1–41.
Douglas, P.H. 1967. Comments on the Cobb–Douglas production function. In The theory and empirical analysis of production, edited by. M. Brown, National Bureau of Economic Research, Studies in Income and Wealth No. 31. New York: Columbia University Press.
Førsund, F.R., C.A.K. Lovell, and P. Schmidt. 1980. A survey of frontier production functions and of their relationship to efficiency measurement. Journal of Econometrics 13: 5–25.
Mairesse, J. 1974. Comparison of production function estimates. Paris: Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques.
Sato, K. 1975. Production functions and aggregation. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Wicksell, K. 1958. Selected papers on economic theory. ed. Erik Lindahl. Cambridge, MA: Harvard.
Zarembka, P. 1987. Transformation of variables in econometrics. In The new Palgrave: A dictionary of economics, ed. J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman, vol. 4. London: Macmillan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Brown, M. (2018). Cobb–Douglas Functions. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_480
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_480
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences