- Open access
- Published:
Measuring Capital Stocks and Capital Services in Switzerland
Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics volume 145, pages 61–105 (2009)
Summary
This paper presents estimates of the aggregate net (wealth) capital stock and aggregate capital services for Switzerland. We derive these estimates in a consistent manner using the perpetual inventory method. Due to changes in data availability, the annual time series cover the period 1970–2005 for a 2-asset breakdown (equipment and structures) and 1990–2005 for a 12-asset breakdown (nine categories of equipment and three of structures). The sensitivity of the results is examined by varying assumptions on the initial capital stocks, the length of asset lives, the method for calculating service prices, and the choice of ICT deflators. The paper also presents quarterly measures of capital and estimates of capital services based on mid-year asset stocks.
References
Andrist, Felix, Richard G. Anderson and Marcela M. Williams (2000), “Real Output in Switzerland: New Estimates for 1914–47”, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 82 (3), pp. 43–70.
Berndt, Ernst R., and Melvyn A. Fuss (1986), “Productivity Measurement with Adjustments for Variations in Capacity Utilization and other Forms of Temporary Equilibrium”, Journal of Econometrics, 33, pp. 7–29.
Bureau of Economic Analysis (2003), Fixed Assets and Consumer Durable Goods in the United States, 1925–1997, US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.
Diewert, W. Erwin (2003), Measuring Capital, NBER Working Paper No. 9526.
Diewert, W. Erwin, Hide Mizobuchi and Koji Nomura (2005), “On Measuring Japan’s Productivity, 1955–2003”, University of British Columbia, Department of Economics, Discussion Paper No. 05-22.
Diewert, W. Erwin, and Paul Schreyer (2006), The Measurement of Capital, draft entry to the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics.
Goldsmith, Raymond (1980), “A Tentative Secular National Balance Sheet for Switzerland”, Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik, 116, pp. 175–187.
Hall, Robert E., and Dale W. Jorgenson (1967), “Tax Policy and Investment Behavior”, American Economic Review, 57, pp. 391–414.
Hulten, Charles R., and Frank C. Wykoff (1996), “Issues in the Measurement of Economic Depreciation: Introductory Remarks”, Economic Inquiry, 34, pp. 10–23.
Jorgenson, Dale W. (1963), “Capital Theory and Investment Behavior”, American Economic Review, 53, pp. 247–59.
Jorgenson, Dale W. (1989), “Capital as a Factor of Production”, in: Dale W. Jorgenson and Ralph Landau (eds), Technology and Capital Formation, Cambridge, MA, pp. 1–36.
Jorgenson, Dale W., and Laurits R. Christensen (1969), “The Measurement of U.S. Real Capital Input”, Review of Income and Wealth, 15, pp. 293–320.
Jorgenson, Dale W., and Zvi Griliches (1967), “The Explanation of Productivity Change”, Review of Economic Studies, 34, pp. 349–383.
Jorgenson, Dale W., and Kevin J. Stiroh (2000), “Raising the Speed Limit: U.S. Economic Growth in the Information Age”, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1, 125–236.
Kamps, Christophe (2006), “New Estimates of Government Net Capital Stocks for 22 OECD Countries, 1960–2001”, IMF Staff Papers, 53, pp. 120–150.
Maddison, Angus (2006), The World Economy, OECD Development Centre Studies, Paris.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2001a), OECD Manual — Measuring Capital: Measurement of Capital Stocks, Consumption of Fixed Capital and Capital Services, Paris.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2001b), OECD Manual — Measuring Productivity: Measurement of Aggregate and Industry-Level Productivity Growth, Paris.
Oulton, Nicholas, and Sylaja Srinivasan (2003), Capital Stocks, Capital Services, and Depreciation: An Integrated Framework, Bank of England Working Paper No. 192.
Rais, Gregory, and Pierre Sollberger (2006), Multi-Factor Productivity Measurement: From Data Pitfalls to Problem Solving — the Swiss Way, Swiss Federal Office of Statistics, Working paper prepared for the OECD Workshop on Productivity, Berne, 16–18 October 2006.
Ritzmann-Blickenstorfer, Heiner (1996), Historical Statistics of Switzerland, Zurich.
Schreyer, Paul (2002), “Computer Price Indices and International Growth and Productivity Comparisons”, Review of Income and Wealth, 48, pp. 15–31.
Schreyer, Paul, W. Erwin Diewert and Anne Harrison (2005), Cost of Capital Services and the National Accounts, OECD STD/NAES(2005)17, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (2006a), Productivité multifactorielle — rapport méthodologique, Document de travail, Berne.
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (2006b), Stock de capital non financier — rapport méthodologique, Document de travail, Berne.
Triplett, Jack E. (2004), Handbook on Hedonic Indexes and Quality Adjustments in Price Indexes: Special Application to Information Technology Products, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2004/9, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
We thank the Editor (Klaus Neusser) and two anonymous referees for this Journal and the SNB Working Paper Series for helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank Gregory Rais, Eveline Ruoss and Elizabeth Steiner for comments on an earlier version and Yves Blattmann for providing valuable research assistance. The views expressed in this paper are our own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Swiss National Bank.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
About this article
Cite this article
Rudolf, B., Zurlinden, M. Measuring Capital Stocks and Capital Services in Switzerland. Swiss J Economics Statistics 145, 61–105 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399275
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399275