宏观经济学Abel, Andrew B., Bernanke 答案 CH3
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Chapter 3
Productivity, Output, and Employment
Learning Objectives
I. Goals of Part 2: The Macroeconomics of Full Employment
A) Analyze factors that affect the longer-term performance of the economy
B) Develop a theoretical model of the macroeconomy
1. Three markets
a. Labor market (this chapter)
b. Goods market (Ch. 4)
c. Asset market (Ch. 7)
II. Goals of Chapter 3
A) Introduce the production function as the main determinant of output
1. Discuss the marginal productivity of labor and capital
2. Analyze supply shocks
B) Discuss the determinants of labor demand and supply
C) Equilibrium in the classical model of the labor market
1. Full-employment output
2. Factors that change equilibrium
D) Unemployment
1. Definitions of employment status
2. Frictional, structural, cyclical unemployment
3. Okun’s Law
III. Notes to Fifth Edition Users
A) Data and numerical examples were updated
B) The Application, “Weekly Hours of Work and the Wealth of Nations” was deleted, though it is
available in this instructor’s manual if you would like to continue using it
C) A new Application, “Comparing U.S. and European Labor Markets” has been added Chapter 3 Productivity, Output, and Employment 31
Teaching Notes
I. How Much Does the Economy Produce? The Production Function (Sec. 3.1)
A) Factors of production
1. Capital (K)
2. Labor (N)
3. Others (raw materials, land, energy)
4. Productivity of factors depends on technology and management
B) The production function
1. Y = AF(K, N) (3.1)
2. Parameter A is “total factor productivity” (the effectiveness with which capital and labor
are used)
C) Application: The production function of the U.S. economy and U.S. productivity growth
1. Cobb-Douglas production function works well for U.S. economy:
Y = A K 0.3 N 0.7 (3.2)
2. Data for U.S. economy—Table 3.1 Numerical Problem 1 gives students practice working with a production function.
3. Productivity growth calculated using production function
a. Productivity moves sharply from year to year Data Application
An example of the sharp movements in productivity that are possible can be seen by comparing
data on productivity for 1995 to data for 1996. Employment grew about the same amount in both
years, but in 1995 productivity grew 0.4%, while in 1996 it grew 1.5%. Economists generally
believe that it is measurement error, rather than true changes in productivity, that is responsible for
these swings during a given phase of the business cycle. As the business cycle changes phases, for
example from recession to expansion, there may be large, true swings in productivity. For
example, in 1989, productivity grew 1.2%, in 1990 it fell 1.2%, and in 1991 it fell 0.7%.
Roy H. Webb addresses the pitfalls in using productivity statistics in his article “National
Productivity Statistics,” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Winter 1998, pp. 45–64.
b. Productivity grew slowly in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, but increased in the
second half of the 1990s
Policy Application
Perhaps the greatest source of uncertainty facing policymakers today is trying to figure out the
underlying trend in productivity. For a discussion of this issue, see the article “How Fast Can the
New Economy Grow?” by Glenn Rudebusch, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic
Letter, February 25, 2000. 32 Abel/Bernanke/Croushore • Macroeconomics, Sixth Edition
D) The shape of the production function
1. Two main properties of production functions
a. Slopes upward: more of any input produces more output
b. Slope becomes flatter as input rises: diminishing marginal product as input increases
2. Graph production function (Y vs. one input; hold other input and A fixed)
a. Marginal product of capital, MPK = ∆Y/∆K (Figure 3.1; Key Diagram 1; like text Figure 3.2)
Figure 3.1
1) Equal to slope of production function graph (Y vs. K)
2) MPK always positive
3) Diminishing marginal productivity of capital—MPK declines as K rises
b. Marginal product of labor, MPN = ∆Y/∆N (Figure 3.2; like text Figure 3.3)
Figure 3.2
1) Equal to slope of production function graph (Y vs. N)
2) MPN always positive
3) Diminishing marginal productivity of labor Numerical Problem 2 gives students practice calculating the MPK and MPN. Chapter 3 Productivity, Output, and Employment 33
E) Supply shocks
1. Supply shock = productivity shock = a change in an economy’s production function
2. Supply shocks affect the amount of output that can be produced for a given amount of inputs
3. Shocks may be positive (increasing output) or negative (decreasing output)
4. Examples: weather, inventions and innovations, government regulations, oil prices
