Indices of the Average Age of Structures and Equipment in Australia 1955/56–1982/83*

This paper presents an expression for the average age of the capital stock in terms of the rate of depreciation and the rate of accumulation. We derive indices for the average age of private sector structures (excluding dwellings) and equipment in Australia.     

Labor Responses,Regulation, and Business Churn

We develop a model of sluggish firm entry to explain short‐run labor responses to technology shocks. We show that the labor response to technology and its persistence depend on the degree of returns to labor and the rate of firm entry. Existing empirical results support our theory based on short‐run labor responses across U.S. industries. We derive closed‐form transition paths that show the result occurs because labor adjusts instantaneously while firms are sluggish, and closed‐form eigenvalues show that stricter entry regulation results in slower convergence to steady state. Finally, we show that our theoretical results hold in a quantitative model with capital accumulation and interest rate dynamics.     

The US Economy from 1992 to 1998: Results from a Detailed CGE Model*

This paper describes historical and decomposition simulations undertaken for 1992–98 with a 500‐sector computable general equilibrium model of the US. The historical simulation provides estimates of movements in unobservable technology and preference variables. The decomposition simulation explains developments in the US economy in terms of movements in these variables and in observable exogenous variables such as tariffs. Both simulations produce many results. Here we use decomposition results to show that rapid growth in US international trade is explained mainly by technology changes that reduced costs in export‐orientated industries and increased inputs of commodities that are heavily imported.     

COMMENT—ALCOHOL ADVERTISING IN MAGAZINES AND YOUTH READERSHIP: ARE YOUTHS DISPROPORTIONATELY EXPOSED?

This article investigates the relationship between alcohol advertising in magazines and youth readership, while controlling for a set of magazine and readership variables related to the demand for advertising space. It reconstructs and reanalyzes a data set including count data for alcohol ads placed in 28 magazines in 2001-2003 that was the basis for a previous study, which concluded that alcohol advertisers do not target youths. We address the problem of collinearity in that data set and add an explanatory variable to explicitly model the hypothesis that alcohol advertising is preferentially directed to a young adult audience. We find that the number of alcohol advertisements in magazines increases significantly with the proportion of youth readers, even after controlling for young adult readership. Our results indicate that youths are disproportionately exposed to alcohol advertising and that reducing youth exposure to alcohol advertising remains an important public policy concern. ( JEL L82, L66, M37)