The Dual Production Frontiers: A New Preliminary Framework for Productivity Research

The mainstream measurement framework for total factor productivity is the original production function defined in the "quantity" space, which often leads to the lack of measurement of allocation efficiency and distortion of other factors. Based on production theory, this paper incorporates the price factors of input and output, uses duality theory to derive the concept of dual production function, and constructs a dual production frontier to explore a feasible new paradigm for productivity research. In contrast, the new framework can clarify the impact of market price changes on production decisions, accurately measure allocation efficiency, and other factors that cause productivity changes, extend the measurement of total factor productivity to the "quantity-price" joint space.