Search Results
Journal Article
Capital spending and capacity
Journal Article
Industrial production and capacity utilization: the 2005 annual revision
On November 7, 2005, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System issued revisions to its index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity and capacity utilization for the period from January 1972 through September 2005. For this period, both the levels and the rates of change were revised. For years before 1972, the levels, but not the rates of change, were also revised. Overall, the changes to total industrial production were small. ; Besides the revisions to the monthly data for IP and capacity utilization starting in 1972, the comparison base year for all ...
Journal Article
Industrial production and capacity utilization: 1998 annual revision
In late 1998, the Federal Reserve published the results of an annual revision of its measures of industrial production, capacity, and capacity utilization, which cover the nation's manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities industries. The revision involved both the incorporation of newly available and more comprehensive source data and, for some series, the introduction of modified methods for compiling the series. The revised figures show stronger growth of both production and capacity since 1996; however, the overall capacity utilization rate was little changed from the previous ...
Journal Article
Has excess capacity abroad reduced U.S. inflationary pressures?
This article examines whether the sizable amount of excess capacity abroad in recent years has eased U.S. inflationary pressures by keeping import prices from rising as fast as the prices of U.S.-produced goods. The analysis finds that overall import price growth has roughly kept pace with U.S. inflation because the effects of lower inflation abroad have been offset by exchange rate changes. In the case of Japan, dollar depreciation has rendered excess capacity basically ineffective against U.S. inflationary pressures.
Journal Article
Inflation and capacity
Journal Article
The problem of manufacturing capacity
Working Paper
Technology, capital spending, and capacity utilization
This paper examines the relationships between technology, capital spending, and capacity utilization. Recent technological changes have increased the flexibility of relationships between inputs and outputs in manufacturing, which may have eroded the predictive value of the utilization rate. This paper considers how technology might be expected to affect utilization. We show that recent changes could either lower average utilization by making it cheaper to hold excess capacity, or raise utilization by making further changes in capacity less costly and time-consuming. We then examine the ...