Markup Variation and Productivity Measurement in Singapore*

Conventional measures of total factor productivity using growth accounting may not be appropriate when there is variation in markups across industries. The existence of market power implies that total factor productivity contains an endogenous component related to the variation in markups. I examine the variation of markups at the industry level for the manufacturing and services sectors in Singapore from 1983 to 2003. Using two different measures, I find that the markups in Singapore are significant in most industries, at around 28 and 55percent for the manufacturing and services sectors, respectively. Markups for the services sector declined during the period, while the markups for the key manufacturing industries increased after the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Accounting for variation in markups suggests that improvement in technological progress tends to be underestimated by 0.5–1.0percent per year. The underestimation is more severe in industries with relatively high markups.     

Estimation of Scale Economies Underlying Growth and Productivity: The Empirical Implications of Data Aggregation

Estimation of scale economies underlying growth and productivity patterns is typically based on aggregated data, raising questions about the potential for aggregation biases. This paper provides empirical evidence on the existence and patterns of such biases. We use a cost-based model to estimate short/long-run and internal/external scale effects for U.S. manufacturing data at different aggregation levels. Our results suggest that aggregation biases in such a model are not substantive. Also, internal scale economies seem more appropriately represented by the aggregate data, whereas more disaggregated data appears preferable for estimation of external or spillover effects that occur between industries or sectors.     

Productivity Measurement and the Relationship between Plant Performance and JIT Intensity*

The management accounting and operations management literatures argue that the adoption of advanced manufacturing practices, such as just‐in‐time (JIT), necessitates complementary changes in a firm's management accounting and control systems. This study uses a sample of JIT and non‐JIT plants operating in the Canadian automotive parts manufacturing industry to study the interaction among performance outcomes, intensity of JIT practices, and productivity measurement. This study provides evidence that productivity measurement mediates the relationship between performance outcomes and intensity of JIT practices. Specifically, both JIT and non‐JIT plants that use a broader range of productivity measures are more efficient and profitable than other plants. Also, plants that employ industry‐driven productivity measures are more profitable and efficient than plants that employ idiosyncratic productivity measures, especially if the former are more JIT‐intensive than the latter. Furthermore, plants that employ quality productivity measures are less efficient and less profitable than those that do not, especially if they use more intensive JIT practices. The latter result is consistent with JIT‐intensive plants overinvesting in quality. This study also finds that plants that invest more in buffer stock are less efficient and less profitable, especially if they use more intensive JIT practices. Despite the fact that plant profitability and efficiency are highly correlated, JIT‐intensive plants are more profitable but less efficient than plants that are not JIT‐intensive, after controlling for productivity measures, plant size, and buffer stock. This result suggests that despite wasting resources, JIT‐intensive plants are still able to generate relatively higher profits than plants that are not JIT‐intensive.     

Productivity and Comparative Advantage in Rice Agriculture in South‐East Asia Since 1870*

Rice long dominated the agricultural economies of South‐East Asia. Given the economic predominance of agriculture, the development of rice production had a significant bearing on the economies in the region. This article explains why the countries of mainland South‐East Asia long dominated the international rice market. It quantifies labor productivity in rice production and argues that simple, low‐cost and labor‐extensive, but low‐yielding production technology allowed farmers in mainland South‐East Asia to achieve significantly higher levels of labor product‐ivity than in the more densely populated rice‐producing areas in South‐East Asia and Japan. High levels of labor productivity were a major source of comparative advantage in rice production for Burma, Thailand and Southern Vietnam.     

中国农业生产率地区差异的影响因素研究——基于空间计量的分析

文章使用非参数的双边相对Malmqutist生产率指数(Bilateral Relative MalmquistProductivity Index-BRMPI)的方法测算了中国28个省级地区农业全要素生产率水平,在控制地区空间因素的基础上研究生产率地区差异趋势及其影响因素。空间统计分析的结果显示,样本期间内各省的农业全要素生产率水平存在局部空间相关性。在利用空间计量方法估计的收敛方程中,我们发现地区工业化和城市化能够显著促进生产率水平的提高,人力资本的作用在不同的样本时期有差别,这可能与劳动力的跨区域流动有关,对外开放、市场化程度和农业科研投入的作用不明显。     

浅谈商业部门的自主调节能力与商业生产力作用的发挥

商业生产力这个概念的提出对于商业研究具有重大的意义,但一直以来并没有得到太大的发展,已有文献大多限于探讨商业生产力的要素构成等问题。本文从对商业生产力的概念进行辨析入手,讨论了商业部门在现代经济生活中地位提高后,对生产、消费等部门具有的自主性调节能力会对商业生产力作用的发挥产生何种影响。     

Productivity Growth,Technical Progress and Efficiency Change in African Agriculture

Abstract: The paper examines the economic performance of a large number of African countries using an international comparable data set and the latest technique for analysis. The paper focuses on growth in total factor productivity and its decomposition into technical change and efficiency change components. The analysis is undertaken using the data envelopment analysis (DEA). The present study uses data of 16 countries over the period 1970–2001. It was found that, globally, during that period, total factor productivity has experienced a positive evolution in sampled countries. This good performance of the agricultural sector was due to good progress in technical efficiency rather than technical progress. The region suffered a regression in productivity in the 1970s, and made some progress during the 1980s and 1990s. The study also highlights the fact that technical change has been the main constraint of achievement of high levels of total factor productivity during the reference period in sub‐Saharan Africa. Contrariwise, in Maghreb countries, technological change has been the main driving force of productivity growth. Finally, the results indicate that institutional factors as well as agro‐ecological factors are important determinants of agricultural productivity growth.     

行业规模、集约化生产与制造业产业集群

培育先进制造业集群是我国制造业未来的发展方向,本文在已有文献的基础上构造了衡量制造业集群发展水平的指标,并结合2000-2018年湖南省机械工业行业的数据进行了经验事实研究,发现湖南省机械工业产业集群水平在一定程度上还存在优化提升的空间。基于此,本文通过构建包含消费者、制造业厂商和数据提供商在内的三部门动态一般均衡模型研究得出,制造业产业集群发展水平提高的推动力主要来源于集群的行业规模与平均集约化生产水平之间的内生作用机制,二者的相互制约决定了单期的均衡产业集群水平向跨期动态最优值过渡的推演路径。本文为制造业产业集群的实际发展提供了一个较为合理的理论支撑,同时具体刻画了新型生产要素——数据要素的定价机制、交易原则及市场均衡。     

Establishment Size and Economies of Scale in 19th-Century France

This paper, which uses micro data from the two mid-century French industrial censuses, offers two main conclusions about the structure of French industry. First, it shows that while average firm size was small in French manufacturing as a whole, cotton textile factories were not much smaller than their British or American counterparts. Second, it shows that there is evidence of increasing returns to scale in France, especially in small-scale traditional sectors. It seems that the average size in these sectors in France during the second half of the century remained small, while it increased elsewhere. Thus, some potential economies of scale were not exploited.     

New Estimates of Economies of Scale and Scope in Higher Education

Following Colin, Rhine, and Santos (1989), we reeslimate cost functions for 1492 private and 1450 public institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States, using data for fiscal year 1995-1996. Costs are modeled as a function of the level of production of three outputs: undergraduate education, graduate education, and externally funded research. We find that public and private IHEs are characterized by significantly different cost functions. At the sample means of the variables, we estimate that public and private IHEs enjoy both ray economics of scale and product-specific economies with respect to production of all three outputs. However, we also find that, at the sample means, both public and private institutions are characterized by diseconomies of scope in the production of these three outputs. Our findings suggest that both public and private IHEs could reduce their unit costs of operation by growing relative to the current mean levels of production.     

Production Costs,Scale Economies,and Technical Change in U.S. Textile and Apparel Industries

The elimination of quotas in textiles and apparel poses new threats from import competition. To survive, the sectors need to find least-cost methods of production. The production–cost structure of the U.S. textile and apparel industries is examined using a dual cost framework. A translog cost function is used to measure substitution elasticities between inputs, scale economies, and the nature of technical change. The scope for factor substitution in textiles remains limited with all substitution elasticities being less than unity. Labor and materials are complements in apparel production, but there is evidence of substitution between capital and labor. The rate of technical change is higher in textiles than in apparel. Given the intense import competition from low wage countries, in both industries, technical progress is labor saving. Overall, economies of scale are larger in apparel; however, scale economies have continued to increase in textiles.This research was supported by a grant from the National Textile Center.     

An Empirical Analysis of Productivity in Philippine Agriculture, 1974–2000

Using recent agricultural data sets, we estimate a non-neutral and non-homothetic translog variable cost function to empirically investigate Philippine agricultural productivity. Overall, the annual average productivity growth rate is 0.51 percent. The highest productivity level is observed during the post-Green Revolution period (1974–1980). Thereafter, productivity growth shows a discernible decline up until the late 1990s. This indicates that productivity level during the Green Revolution era has not been sustained or paralleled, despite substantial policy changes put in place since 1986 to invigorate the agricultural sector. The government should therefore continue to promote technological progress in Philippine agriculture; however, this may require redirection of its present policy by placing more emphasis on productivity-enhancing investments, such as research and development, irrigation and other infrastructure.     

Panel Data Estimates of Public Higher Education Scale and Scope Economies

This paper uses panel data spanning the 2000–2001 to 2006–2007 academic years for U.S. public colleges and universities to estimate multi-product cost functions and the economies of scale and scope associated with teaching and research. The empirical results indicate statistically strong institutional effects. That suggests previous cross-sectional studies anchored in 1995–1996 and earlier data have generated potentially biased estimates. Here, estimates are 2006–2007 updates provided separately for doctoral, master, bachelor, and associate level colleges and universities. Controlling for institutional specific effects, the results bring into question some of the previous findings of widespread teaching and research economies of scale and scope. However, there is also evidence of some common ground of empirical support.     

创新的规模经济与企业绩效——基于协同作用的考察

有许多因素导致企业的创新活动具有规模经济的特征，了解这些因素对企业管理者制定创新政策具有重要意义。理论上看，企业的广告活动有助于创新规模经济的实现，从而改善企业绩效。基于中国制造业上市公司样本的实证研究发现，从整体上看，研发支出与企业绩效显著正相关，广告支出与企业绩效没有统计上显著的关系，但广告支出有利于创新规模经济的实现。广告活动的协同作用会受到企业规模的影响，在中等规模企业里广告支出的促进作用比在大企业和小企业里从经济意义上看更为重要，并且统计上更为显著。