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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access originally published online on February 25, 2009
Cambridge Journal of Economics 2009 33(5):937-948; doi:10.1093/cje/bep005
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

This article appears in the following Cambridge Journal of Economics issue: Special focus: Moral Economy and Development Economics [View the issue table of contents]

Input price–input quantity relations and the numéraire

Arrigo Opocher and Ian Steedman*

* University of Padua, Italy and Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, respectively

Address for correspondence: Arrigo Opocher, Department of Economics and Management, University of Padua, Via del Santo 33, 35123 Padova, Italy; email: arrigo.opocher{at}unipd.it

The fact that a competitive agent faces ‘given’ input prices does not necessarily mean that these prices can be completely arbitrary, especially in the long run. An obvious case, but not the only one, is when there are input–output relations among industries. But as soon as long-run input price interrelatedness is taken seriously, the very conception of a downward sloping input demand curve encounters serious difficulties. Although one can always draw an input price–input quantity relation, its main qualitative property—the sign of its slope—is not generally independent of the arbitrary choice of numéraire.

Key Words: Input demand • Long run • Input prices

JEL classifications: D21, D24, D57

Manuscript received July 1, 2008; final version received November 14, 2008.


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