<p>I am carrying out an empirical study wherein I have to judge productivity for two inter-country alliances. While the translog is a better method theoretically the coefficients are insignificant, whereas in Cobb-Douglas they are significant. The gamma stat also shows a better fit for Cobb-Douglas. Is there any reason as to why Cobb-Douglas can be preferred over translog?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-20T13:14:03.797Z
Could you explain what a "gamma stat" is? With OLS, it is mathematically not possible to obtain a poorer fit (in terms of $R^2$ or SSR) for a more general function than Cobb-Douglas. How do you measure the fit?
Bertrand
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-21T03:55:24.353Z
This might help:

https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/18998/why-is-the-cobb-douglas-production-function-so-popular
Rumi
<production-function><empirical-methods>
What are the advantages of Cobb-Douglas over a translog function?
Teestaa Saha
# What are the advantages of Cobb-Douglas over a translog function?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-11-20)

I am carrying out an empirical study wherein I have to judge productivity for two inter-country alliances. While the translog is a better method theoretically the coefficients are insignificant, whereas in Cobb-Douglas they are significant. The gamma stat also shows a better fit for Cobb-Douglas. Is there any reason as to why Cobb-Douglas can be preferred over translog?

**Tags:** production-function, empirical-methods

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Could you explain what a "gamma stat" is? With OLS, it is mathematically not possible to obtain a poorer fit (in terms of $R^2$ or SSR) for a more general function than Cobb-Douglas. How do you measure the fit?  
> **username_2**: This might help:  https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/18998/why-is-the-cobb-douglas-production-function-so-popular  

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