The Return to capital: new facts and interpretation
This thesis presents new facts on the aggregate return to capital and shows their implications for underlying drivers of investment and the efficiency of the alloca-tion of capital. The first chapter analyzes aggregate returns to capital across countries. Although international capital flows were sm...
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| Tipo de documento: | tese |
| Estado: | Versão publicada |
| Data de publicação: | 2019 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | CBUC, CESCA |
| Repositório: | TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/666913 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/10803/666913 |
| Access Level: | Acceso aberto |
| Palavra-chave: | Return to capital Retorn agregat del capital 33 |
| Resumo: | This thesis presents new facts on the aggregate return to capital and shows their implications for underlying drivers of investment and the efficiency of the alloca-tion of capital. The first chapter analyzes aggregate returns to capital across countries. Although international capital flows were small, returns have converged since the 1970s. Trade integration appears a key driving force behind this trend because factor in-come shares of capital move with the aggregate return. As barriers to international trade fall, specialization in capital- or labor-intensive industries can explain a sig-nificant share of the convergence. The second chapter examines why the return to capital in the U.S. has not fallen along with interest rates. Using firm-level data in production function estimation addresses some shortcomings of aggregate data. The results suggest that higher capital frictions dampened investment demand despite low interest rates. Rising markups, on the other hand, appear to have limited explanatory power. |
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