A comparison of approaches towards measuring technical change: the case of Swedish newsprint production

The purpose of this paper is to estimate and analyze technical change in the Swedish newsprint industry over the time period 1974–1994. Using a variable Translog cost function as the basis, three different approaches toward estimating technical change are developed: (a) the Tornqvist index, (b) the standard time trend specification, and (c) the general index approach. The empirical results indicate that considerable differences exist between the three approaches, both in terms of their mean estimates of technical change and in their variation over time. Finally, the main determinants of technical change in the Swedish newsprint industry are identified and used to explain the three technical change indices within a simple econometric model. The results indicate that capacity utilization has been the dominant determinant of technical change, but that regulatory intensity and output prices are also important determinants.