Measuring Energy Input, Quality and Productivity¹

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Nguyen, Sang V.^a

Affiliations: [a] Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC 20233, USA

Note: [1] The judgments and conclusions herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Census Bureau or its staff. The author thanks Stephen H. Andrews for his assistance in putting together the data file and J.R. Norsworthy for useful suggestions. I am solely responsible for any remaining errors.

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss and compare two specific energy aggregates, the Divisia and Btu indexes. These indexes are constructed using disaggregate data on 12 types of energy used in 72 industries to the total U.S. manufacturing level for the period 1958–1981. We then compute and analyze different effects contributing to the growth in energy input and energy productivity. Our results show strong evidence that energy aggregates constructed by different methods result in significantly different energy productivity growth rates. The Divisia index gives more satisfactory results than the Btu index.

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-1991-173-401

Journal: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 17, no. 3-4, pp. 115-130, 1991