The Russian growth path and TFP changes in light of estimation of the production function using quarterly data

This article presents estimations of a Cobb-Douglas production function with a steady change in total factor productivity (TFP) for the Russian economy using quarterly data for the favourable period 1998Q3-2008Q2 and the period 1995Q1-2010Q2 as well. Compiling our baseline data on capital and labour adjusted for utilisation, we explicitly present estimations of the coefficients (the capital distribution ratio and TFP) of the production function, which show that TFP is the major growth source, followed by the capital contribution. We also show results of the measurement of Russia's GDP gaps as the differences between potential and actual GDP based on the production function and the Hodrick-Prescott filter.