DO INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATIONS NEED RE-INVENTINg? AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELEVANCE OF THE U.S. SIC SYSTEM FOR PRODUCTIVITY RESEARCH

Authors

  • Jack E. Triplett Boston College
  • D. Mark Kennet Boston College
  • Ron Jarmin Boston College
  • Frank M. Gollop Boston College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7152/acro.v6i1.12667

Abstract

Two separate empirical investigations into the conceptual structure underlying the U.S. SIC were undertaken. Government industry specialists and industry classification experts reviewed individual4-digit U.S. SICs and judgmentally determined if these industries had been constructed by grouping similar production processes, or, alternatively, by grouping similar markets. Independently, an algorithm derived from the diversification index developed by Gollop and Monahan (1991) was used to measure the heterogeneity of establishment production functions, by 4-digit industry, using the Census Longitudinal Research Database file. The two reviews yielded broadly similar results: Only about one fifth of US. industries have been designed to be approximately consistent with aggregation conditions derived from production theory.

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Published

1995-10-31