Statica comparata nonparametrica: le ambiguita' delle elasticita' di prezzo

Elasticities estimate is the traditional representation of production response to price changes within the neoclassical theory of the production process. The conventional solution is the econometric estimation of a production, or dual, function, and the following calculation of elasticities. This procedure implies the specification ex-ante of the functional form. Furthermore, due to lacking degrees of freedom, high aggregation across inputs and outputs is required. In this study the price elasticities are found through an alternative calculation of response to price variations. It is the nonparametric analysis of the technology; in this framework, the neoclassic representation is still mantained; nevertheless, no parametric specification of technology is required and no restrictions on parameters to impose theoretical properties are necessary. Nonparametric approach allows to measure outer and inner elasticities, that is elasticities associated with the extreme possible cases compatible with the theoretical restriction. These bounds can provide evidence of substantial ambiguity of the parametric estimates of elasticities whose identification depends on the arbitrary choice of the functional form.