Cobb Douglas Production Function
Definition
Health Economics
The Cobb-Douglas production function has the form:
Y = AKa Lb,
where Y is the output rate A, a and b are positive constants; A is a variable broadly representing 'technology' and K and L are capital and labour services respectively. If there are constant returns to scale, then a + b = 1. With increasing/decreasing returns to scale the sum is >1 and <1 respectively. Named after the US mathematician Charles W. Cobb (1875-1949) and the US economist Paul H. Douglas (1892-1976).
