Recent contributions have mentioned the possibility of a decreasing trend in capacity utilisation in the US since the 70's. However, no consensus has emerged on the empirical evidence. Comparing the rate of capacity utilisation of the Federal Reserve Board [FRB] with the Full Utilisation Rate [FUR] and the National Emergency Rate [NER] of the Census Bureau, new empirical evidence is shown confirming that there exists such a decreasing trend in capacity utilisation in the US economy, at least since 1989.
Keywords: Capacity utilisation, growth
JEL classification: D24 E32
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