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Q2 Z2,(Q2) Z2(Q2) - Institute for Water Resources - U.S. Army

Q2 Z2,(Q2) Z2(Q2) - Institute for Water Resources - U.S. Army

Q2 Z2,(Q2) Z2(Q2) - Institute for Water Resources - U.S. Army

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A towboat is an expensive piece of capital equipment (costing<br />

between 1/2 million and 1 million dollars when new) and can be assum-<br />

ed to embody the best technplogy available when it was constructed<br />

(or had a major overhaulinsofar as this technology has improved<br />

over time, newer boats should be more productive. Thus, a linear<br />

measure of the age of a towboat should have a negative coefficient.<br />

In looking at the results, only company one has a significant coef-<br />

ficient. Two of six coefficients are negative, and coefficients of<br />

companies two and three change signs between the upstream and down-<br />

stream regressions. Apparently, there have not been significant im-<br />

provements in design over this period.<br />

This lack of significance in design inprovements was checked with<br />

naval architects. They expressed the opinion that there has been only<br />

one major improvement: the Kort nozzle. These impressions are con-<br />

firmed by the regressions. In all cases, the coefficient of Kort nozzles<br />

is positive and significant.. Again, they seem to add more to productiv-<br />

ity in downstream runs than in upstream runs.<br />

Over the last two or three decades, the price of waterway trans-<br />

portation either remained constant or declined slightly. Over this<br />

same period, the price of fuel has risen sharply, as has the cost of<br />

equipment and crew. Apparently, there has been a significant increase<br />

in productivity over this period. The increased productivity could<br />

be due to: (1) changes in equipment design, (2) improvements in labor<br />

productivity or (3) changes in operating rules, such as the number of<br />

barges in a tow. If the increased productivity took the <strong>for</strong>m of im-<br />

proved equipment, it could, be thought of as "capital embodied techno-<br />

logical change." 5 If the productivity were due to labor, it would be<br />

62

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