| This thesis contains three essays on the determinants of the long run rate of capital utilization, the extent of shiftworking and the capital intensity of production.; In Chapter II, the consideration of heterogeneous capital goods makes explicit a firm's choice of technology in terms of a continuum of types of machines with differing, (and fixed), labor requirements. Capital prices depend on these man-machine ratios. A firm simultaneously chooses a technique of production and a rate of capital utilization. This first essay begins by considering the simplest case where production is subject to constant returns to scale and there is an output constraint. Here, a firm's problem is to choose a technique of production (kind of capital good), and either single or multiple shift will be preferred to single shift operation, ceteris paribus, the higher is the general price of capital and the smaller is the shift premium. The novel results are that the incidence of shiftwork is positively related to the level of basic wage rates and the relative price of labor-using capital.; A more general formulation of the problem in which it may be optimal for a firm to leave some machines idle, even while running a second shift, is then considered. It is shown that this particular solution is optimal only when production is subject to decreasing returns to scale.; Chapter III extends the individual firm theory by developing a relationship between entrepreneurial talent, firm size and capital utilization. It is argued that a model with heterogeneous capital goods and prices provides a needed theoretical basis for previous cross-sectional empirical results. The supply of shiftworkers and the joint determination of individuals' timing and number of hours of work are also discussed.; Chapter IV utilizes the May 1979 Current Population Survey to estimate shift premiums net of compensating payments for other firm and worker characteristics. Evening and night wage premiums are estimated to be positive, (in manufacturing industries), and strongly related to employer size and union status. |
