Functional Separability and Elasticities of Complementarity

Abstract This paper presents an alternative characterization of separability based on elasticities of complementarity. Earlier studies have formulated separability restrictions in terms of the Allen elasticities of substitution. The Hicks and Antonelli elasticities of complementarity are presented to examine separability of production (utility) and distance functions. Whereas the Allen elasticities of substitution are valid under homothetic separability, the Hicks elasticities of complementarity are a universally relevant measure of separability for the production (utility) function. Separability of meat commodities is tested using the Antonelli elasticities with the consumer's preferences specified with the distance function.