Ex post versus ex ante measures of the user cost of capital

Oulton, Nicholas (2005) Ex post versus ex ante measures of the user cost of capital. CEPDP (698). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK. ISBN 0753018780

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Abstract

When doing growth accounting, should we use ex post or ex ante measures of user costs to calculate the contribution of capital? The answer, based on a simple model of temporary equilibrium, is that ex post is better in theory. In practice researchers usually calculate ex post user costs by assuming that the rate of return is equalised across assets. But this is only true if expectations are correct. A numerical example shows that either ex ante or ex post can be closer to the true measure, depending on the parameters. I propose a hybrid method that makes use of elements of both approaches. I test this and the other methods using data for 31 UK industries.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	http://cep.lse.ac.uk
Additional Information:	© 2005 Nicholas Oulton
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
JEL classification:	C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C4 - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics > C43 - Index Numbers and Aggregation O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O47 - Measurement of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output (Income) Convergence E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E1 - General Aggregative Models > E10 - General E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment > E22 - Capital; Investment (including Inventories); Capacity
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2008 15:19
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/19885

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