The Production Function for Housing: Evidence from France
Article dans une revue: We propose a new nonparametric approach to estimate the production function for housing. Our estimation treats output as a latent variable and relies on a first-order condition for profit maximization combined with a zero-profit condition. More desirable locations command higher land prices and, in turn, more capital to build houses. For parcels of a given size, we compute housing production by summing across the marginal products of capital. For newly built single-family homes in France, the production function for housing is close to constant returns and is well, though not perfectly, approximated by a Cobb-Douglas function with a capital elasticity of 0.65.
Auteur(s)
Pierre-Philippe Combes, Gilles Duranton, Laurent Gobillon
Revue
- Journal of Political Economy
Date de publication
- 2021
Mots-clés JEL
Mots-clés
- Housing
- Production function
Pages
- 2766-2816
URL de la notice HAL
Version
- 1
Volume
- 129