Returns to scale in electricity generation: Replicated and revisited

We replicate the findings of two influential studies on returns to scale in the United States electricity generation market. The main results are contrasted using both local-linear nonparametric regression, a technique robust to parametric functional form assumptions, as well as an updated data set. While the quantitative findings across all of the estimators deployed differ somewhat regarding the magnitude of returns to scale, we document a decrease in returns to scale within the electricity generation market from 1955 to 1996. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.