Papers by Asghedom Ghebremichael
... Senior Economist, Capital Stock Section. For constructive comments on different earlier versi... more ... Senior Economist, Capital Stock Section. For constructive comments on different earlier versions of the manuscript, I am thankful to my friends Dr. David M. Nanang and Dr. Shashi Kant. My intellectual gratitude and debt goes ...
Northern Journal of Applied Forestry, 2005
This study examined the economic profitability of eight combinations of thinning and fertilizatio... more This study examined the economic profitability of eight combinations of thinning and fertilization treatments applied to 40-year-old natural stands of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. Var. latifolia Engelm) in Alberta, Canada. The eight treatments, consisting of four levels of nitrogen fertilizer application (0, 180, 360, and 540 kg ha−1) and two levels of thinning (thinned and unthinned), were applied in 1984 in a randomized complete block design with factorial treatments and nine replications per treatment. The diameters and heights of all trees on the experimental plots were measured in 1984, 1989, 1994, and 1999. A simple factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the 1984 volume as a covariate showed that both fertilization and thinning increased volume growth significantly. Economic analyses showed that thinning without fertilization was the most profitable treatment combination. The ranking of profitability was based on the soil expectation value and assumed that the th...
Forest Policy and Economics, 2006
Enhanced productivity in the logging industry is one of the key factors that determine the compet... more Enhanced productivity in the logging industry is one of the key factors that determine the competitiveness of the forest products sector. Policy measures to improve efficiency must therefore start at the timber harvesting stage. This study analyzed and compared the production technologies in the timber harvesting industries of British Columbia (B.C.), Ontario, and Quebec, which are Canada's largest timber producing provinces. The study used annual data of log output and four inputs: labour, capital, energy, and materials from 1961 to 1999. Six models, encompassing different restrictions on the long-run translog cost function, were applied to each industry to determine the best technology for that industry. The cost function that best described each industry's technology was used to estimate own-and cross-price elasticities, input substitution elasticities, scale effects, technological change and bias, and total factor productivity. The production technologies of B.C. and Quebec were best described by homothetic, linearly homogeneous functions, while that of Ontario was found to be non-homothetic. Based on the Morishima elasticities of substitution, the results in general indicated inelastic substitution among all the four factor inputs. As a result the industries had limited options to make input adjustments with respect to changes in relative input prices; and hence required output levels were maintained at higher production costs. All three provincial industries exhibited biased technological changes, saving on capital and labour, and intensively using energy and materials. Labour and capital therefore recorded higher productivity than energy and materials over all provinces; consequently, efforts at improving the efficiency of the logging industries should focus on increasing the productivity of the latter inputs. Scale effects ranged from 2.17 in B.C. to 1.44 in Quebec implying that the timber harvesting industries appeared to have had the greatest potential for cost reduction through output expansion. In a competitive market structure, the strategic policy implication of these scale effects is that low-cost producers force high-cost industries out, leading to industrial concentration. The low levels of technological change in the timber harvesting industries observed in this study may reflect these industrial concentration problems. Policies that reduce the rental cost of capital, such an increase in investment tax credits and cuts in the corporate income tax rates have the potential to increase productivity and hence improve on the timber industry's competitive position.
... INDUSTRY: A MULTILATERAL INDEX PROCEDURE A. Ghebremichael and DM Nanang Northern Forestry Cen... more ... INDUSTRY: A MULTILATERAL INDEX PROCEDURE A. Ghebremichael and DM Nanang Northern Forestry Centre Information Report NOR-X-391 ... INDUSTRY: A MULTILATERAL INDEX PROCEDURE A. Ghebremichael and DM Nanang INFORMATION REPORT NOR-X-391 ...
Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 1990
This paper analyzes the productivity performance of the Canadian pulp and paper industry for the ... more This paper analyzes the productivity performance of the Canadian pulp and paper industry for the 1963–1984 period. The industry's productivity is first measured, then its sources are analyzed. Total factor productivity is used to measure industry productivity, and statistical estimation of neoclassical cost functions are used to determine sources of the productivity changes. In addition to decomposing the productivity changes into technical changes and changing the scale of the industry's output and capacity utilization, an attempt is also made to assess the impact of pollution control expenditures. The paper finds that although labour productivity grew at 2.5% per year (modest in comparison to other industries), the gross total factor productivity grew only by 1.2% per year. This is largely due to the fact that capital investment raises labour productivity but retards overall productivity. Of the 1.2% growth in total factor productivity, 0.88% was due to the increased scale...
Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 2015
Logging poses socioeconomic, ecological, and environmental dilemmas. On the one hand, it plays a ... more Logging poses socioeconomic, ecological, and environmental dilemmas. On the one hand, it plays a significant role in sustaining the forest sector’s contributions to the national economy. On the other hand, however, logging operations are major causes of ecological and environmental damages. It was hypothesized that if timely investments in various silvicultural operations were made to restore ecological integrity disturbed by logging operation, if the guiding principles of sustainable forest ecosystem management were strictly upheld, and if public and private investments in research and development were made, with a view to realize technological progress in the forest sector, then logging operations would be technically and economically efficient, firms in each regional industry would have comparative cost advantages in the marketplace, and the adverse effects of logging operations on ecological integrity would be socially, economically, and environmentally tolerable, all reflected ...
Forest Policy and Economics, 2009
Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2016
The goal of this study was to analyze a long-run technological progress in the Canadian sawmillin... more The goal of this study was to analyze a long-run technological progress in the Canadian sawmilling industry. Technological progress was considered as any kind of shift in the production technology estimated by total factor productivity growth (TFPG) and other parameters that complemented it. Out of six econometric models that were tested for efficacy in describing the technology, an unrestricted translog functional-form of a long-run total cost function described the technology sufficiently. The industry's TFPG averaged 2.3% per year over the study period. Factor substitution elasticities implied that it was easy for the industry to substitute labor for capital and energy. The industry recorded increasing returns to scale and economies of scale; and technological progress was biased toward capital-using, energy-saving, and Hicks-neutral for labor and material. The multiple benefits that society derives from TFPG include: being one of the engines of economic growth, mitigation of natural capital depletion, minimization of wasteful-use of factors of production, mitigation of the adverse effects of inflation, boosting economic savings, freeing input factors to be reallocated to production of other goods and services, improvements in industrial competitiveness in the marketplace, and revealing possibilities to raise wage rates. Implications of the findings for industrial policymaking are discussed.
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Papers by Asghedom Ghebremichael