Transactional activities and total factor productivity growth in Taiwan

Total factor productivity (TFP) growth shows how rapidly an economy is enhancing technology and the efficiency with which it allocates resources. It has been argued that “miraculous” growth in East Asian economies may not be sustainable, due to relatively low rates of TFP growth. Among these economies, it appears that Taiwan has indeed exhibited substantial technological progress. Failure to control for transactional activities, however, can distort the impression of TFP growth. This study recalculates Taiwan's TFP growth for the 1957–1993 sample period, adjusting for transaction costs in the government and private sectors. For the early years of the sample, 1957–1973, the economy's technological progress is better than GDP-based calculations suggest. In recent years, 1983–1993, productivity improvement has been overstated, but the economy has still exhibited relatively fast TFP growth.     

An Empirical Analysis of Provincial Productivity in China (1979–2001)

This study estimates and analyzes provincial productivity growth in China for the period 1979–2001. The Malmquist Index approach allows us to decompose productivity growth into two components, technological progress and efficiency change. Considerable productivity growth was found for most of the data period, but it was accomplished mainly through technological progress rather than efficiency improvement. Although China's capital stock has accumulated at record speed in recent years, our findings show that TFP growth slowed down significantly during 1995–2001. The study thus raises serious questions about whether China's recent growth pattern is consistent with its comparative advantages, and whether its reliance on capital accumulation can be sustained in the long run.     

中国高技术产业的劳动生产率差异——基于DEA的实证分析

本文运用数据包络分析,将中国高技术产业劳动生产率变化的源泉分解成技术效率、技术进步、资本深化和人力资本积累四个部分,分析了它们对劳动生产率及其差异的影响。2000-2009年间17个高技术产业的实证分析表明:(1)中国高技术产业劳动生产率水平有了显著提升,其中技术效率改善、技术进步和人力资本积累促进了劳动生产率的提高,资本深化则阻碍了劳动生产率的提高;(2)中国高技术产业的劳动生产率差异缩小了,其中技术效率变化、资本深化是劳动生产率差距缩小的主要原因,而技术进步和人力资本积累则阻碍了劳动生产率差距的缩小。     

中国工业企业的增长动能、配置效率与经济利润

传统宏观经济增长的分解框架仅仅关注微观的技术进步效应和资源配置效应，无法识别要素层面的这两种效应以及两种要素的经济利润。为此，文章借助一个新的基于要素层面的全要素生产率增长分解框架，采用1998-2007年中国工业企业数据，对中国工业企业的增长动能、配置效率以及经济利润进行了分析。研究发现：（1）中国工业企业的生产率增长是其产出增长的主要推动力量，这个结论在不同所有制、不同产业以及不同地区均适用。中国工业企业正逐渐由劳动密集型向资本密集型和技术密集型转移。（2）企业自身技术进步对全要素生产率增长的增进效应贡献最大，企业之间的资源配置效率显著抑制了全要素生产率的提升，从抑制效应大小来看，其抑制作用抵消了企业技术进步的绝大部分。具体到资源配置效率程度大小来看，行业内部企业之间的资本配置效率年均恶化程度至少是劳动配置效率的两倍，而行业之间的资源配置效率对全要素生产率的影响微弱。（3）就要素获取的经济利润份额来看，资本占优，高达3.2%，资本利润是劳动利润的至少四倍，劳动利润的上升极为有限。民营企业、技术密集型企业以及中东部地区企业获取了更大的资本利润，而外资获得了更多的劳动利润，体现了外资进入中国的战略取向。东部获得了更多的利润说明其反哺中西部地区的必要性。     

Productivity and economic growth in East Asia: innovation, efficiency and accumulation

This paper uses a varying coefficients frontier production function model to examine the sources of growth between 1987 and 1993 in four East Asian economies—Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea. Using data for 20 manufacturing sectors at the three-digit SIC level, this study provides the first comprehensive examination of sources of growth that allows one to decompose total factor productivity growth, separating out technical efficiency changes (TECs) from technological progress (TP). We find that while there is ample evidence of the importance of increasing inputs in growth, and there is some support for technical efficiency change, or catching up to the frontier over this period, there is weak or even negative evidence for the role of technological progress, measured as a shift in the estimated production frontier.     

Changes in the Sources of Modern Economic Growth: Japan Compared with the United States

The major question addressed in this paper is whether the pattern of economic growth based largely on capital accumulation preceded the pattern predominantly dependent on improvement in efficiency as measured by growth of total factor productivity. Observations on Japan extending back to the early phase of modern economic growth, together with those on the United States by Abramovitz, show that a shift from accumulation-based growth to efficiency-based growth occurred in Japan in the same manner as in U.S. economic history. This shift appears to have been associated with a change in the bias of technological progress from the use of physical capital to the use of human capital. Despite this similarity, economic growth in Japan has continued to depend more heavily on physical capital accumulation even since Japan's economy has reached a mature stage. The significant lag in shifting to efficiency-based growth seems to be characteristic of economic growth based on borrowed technology. This hypothesis is consistent with the similarity in growth patterns between Japan and newly industrializing economies in East Asia.J. Japan. Int. Econ., March 1999,13(1), pp. 1–21. School of International Politics, Economics and Business, Aoyama Gakuin University, Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8366, Japan; and Japan Energy Research Institute, Toranomon 4-3-13, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan.Copyright 1999 Academic Press.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: N15, O47, O57.     

金融发展与增长源泉：要素积累、技术进步与效率改善

本文通过基于DEA的经济增长核算框架将中国28个省市的劳均GDP增长分解为了劳均资本积累、技术进步和技术效率改善三个部分的贡献,然后采用GMM动态面板回归技术分别检验了在1994—2003年间金融发展对这三者的影响,研究发现,金融发展显著加速了劳均资本的积累,但其却阻碍了技术进步和技术效率的改善。本文的研究为理解中国金融发展与经济增长问的关系提供了新的视角和经验证据,金融发展通过不同的机制对经济增长产生了不同的效应可以解释为何“金融引导经济增长”这一命题在中国难以成立。     

Imperfect Competition, Economic Miracle, and Manufacturing Productivity Growth: Empirical Evidence from Taiwan

Several recent studies on total factor productivity (TFP) concluded that the East Asian economies benefited little from TFP growth. This study claims that the failure by previous studies to consider the effect of net indirect taxes and market imperfections resulted in the underestimation of the share of the contribution of labor input to factor income, which consequently led to the overestimation of capital share and understatement of TFP growth. Therefore, this study has modified the conventional approach of calculating factor shares by taking account of net indirect taxes and market imperfections and used the modified approach to estimate TFP growth in 16 Taiwanese manufacturing industries during the period 1979–1999. The conclusion drawn by the study is that TFP growth was the driving force behind the success of Taiwan's manufacturing industries, although many of these industries experienced a sharp decline in TFP during the 1990s.     

Cost efficiency,economies of scale,technological progress and productivity in Indonesian banks

This study estimates cost efficiency, economies of scale, technological progress, and productivity growth among Indonesian banks from 1993 to 2000. Average cost efficiency for the banking sector over this period was 70%. However, there is a marked difference in cost efficiency before and after the Asian economic crisis. The banking sector cost efficiency was 80% prior to the crisis and 53% after the crisis. Moreover, results indicate that private-owned banks and joint venture/foreign banks were more efficient than public-owned banks. Furthermore, the relationship between cost efficiency and total assets suggests an optimum bank asset size. Cost reductions attributed to technological progress and economies of scale were greater prior to the Asian economic crisis. Larger decreases in total factor productivity are evident in the post-crisis period.     

Productivity or Endowments? Sectoral Evidence for Hong Kong's Aggregate Growth*

The present paper provides sectoral evidence that sheds new light on the current debate regarding the sources of growth of the East Asian miracle. We test both the productivity‐driven and endowment‐driven hypotheses using Hong Kong's sectoral data. The results show that most of the growth of the service sector is driven by rapidly‐accumulating capital endowments, and not by productivity growth. In addition, productivity growth in the manufacturing sector is unimpressive. The manufacturing sector is revealed to be more labor intensive than the service sector and its growth is hindered by the reallocation of resources into the service sector as a result of the growth of capital endowments and imports. Overall, sectoral evidence supports the endowment‐driven hypothesis.     

Efficiency change and productivity growth in agriculture: A comparative analysis for selected East Asian economies

This study focuses on identifying the sources of agricultural growth for eight East Asian economies – with special emphasis on factors that can better explain different components of growth. The Malmquist productivity growth index and its two components are calculated and regressed on variables including the human capital endowment, domestic R&D, international spillovers, and country-specific farming characteristics to characterize the differential patterns of growth. Our empirical evidence suggests that domestic R&D and its interaction with human capital constitute the major determinant of individual economy's progress in agricultural technology, whereas the human capital endowment is crucial for the catching up effect. Furthermore, for foreign knowledge to contribute to productivity growth either through innovation or through catching up, the host economy has to develop a sufficient learning capacity from education. Countries that do not attempt to develop the learning capability to assimilate and exploit the freely available knowledge may not benefit from international spillovers of agricultural R&D.     

中国西部地区经济增长源泉——基于人力资本与能源消费的双重约束

文章以中国经济发展相对落后的西部地区为研究对象,运用DEA方法将考虑人力资本与能源消费的经济增长分解为人力资本、复合物质资本、效率改善和技术进步四部分,探寻其经济增长的源泉,并对西部大开发前后进行了比较研究。发现以人力资本、物质资本和能源消费为代表的要素投入和以技术进步、效率提高为代表的全要素生产率对经济增长的推动作用几乎相等;但在西部大开发以后,以技术进步、效率提高为代表的全要素生产率对经济增长的推动作用呈现逐年上升的良好趋势。采用绝对收敛方程考察了中国西部地区经济增长与四类因素的收敛效应,发现中国西部地区出现了显著地经济收敛,而这种结果是技术效率、技术进步和物质资本积累的共同结果。采用Tobit模型深入分析了能源投入和人力资本对经济增长约束的传导机制,结果表明,中国西部地区经济增长可持续发展的重要源泉和动力在于转变经济增长方式。     

Human capital,trade, and economic growth

Human Capital, Trade, and Economic Growth. — Human capital, because of its special role in innovative activity and technological progress, has formed the bedrock of the new theories of endogenous growth. However, it not only serves as an engine of growth but also as a productive input along with labor and physical capital. In this study, the authors find evidence of the importance of both roles of human capital. They also find that the relationship between growth and the external effects of human capital vary according to trade regime. When literacy rates are relatively high, open economies grow about 0.65 to 1.75 percentage points more than closed economies.     

Innovation and Productivity Advances in British Agriculture: 1620–1850

Theory, historiography, and empirical evidence suggest that agriculture is the key to economic development. This article examines the extent to which productivity advances in British agriculture during the period 1620–1850 were driven by technological progress. Measuring technology by patents and new book titles on agricultural methods, the results are consistent with endogenous growth theory, indicating that technological progress has played a significant role in agricultural productivity advances.     

FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT,ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY,AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

Financial development might lead to productivity improvement in developing countries. In the present study, based on the Data Envelopment Analysis approach, we use the Malmquist index to measure China's total factor productivity change and its two components (i.e., efficiency change and technical progress). We find that China has recorded an increase in total factor productivity from 1993 to 2001, and that productivity growth was mostly attributed to technical progress, rather than to improvement in efficiency. Moreover, using panel dataset covering 29 Chinese provinces over the period from 1993 to 2001 and applying the Generalized Method of Moment system estimation, we investigate the impact of financial development on productivity growth in China. Empirical results show that, during this period, financial development has significantly contributed to China's productivity growth, mainly through its favorable effect on efficiency.     

The Total Factor Productivity Debate: Determinants of Economic Growth in East Asia

This survey article examines the recent studies of technological change or total factor productivity (TFP) as a source of growth in East Asian economies. The major objective of the paper is to show that in the end the importance of technological change in economic growth depends largely on how TFP is defined and measured. The conclusions drawn by Alwyn Young and Paul Krugman are based too much upon the assumption that all technological change is TFP. Section II reviews the conceptual and empirical literature on this subject since the 1950s. Section III surveys the TFP studies of East Asian economies, with particular reference to the recent claims that TFP is generally insignificant. Section IV discusses the prospects for East Asian economic growth and dispels the pessimism of such authors as Young and Krugman.     

The search for determinants of catching up: Theory, the East Asian experience and the Chinese case

This paper aims to develop a framework to identify the key determinants of a country's growth in late development and apply the framework to analyze the case of China. I analyze the possible necessary and sufficient conditions for catching up. The analyses suggest that an adequate location, initial human capital and institutional arrangements are among the key determinants; for the majority of developing countries, institutional arrangements alone dictate catching up or not. If the institutional arrangements are efficient, then a follower can achieve what I term long-term potential growth rate provided that there exists an adequate location and initial human capital. The experience of Japan and the East Asian newly industrializing economies is evaluated in the framework. Based on the framework of catching up and the experience of East Asia, the Chinese case is analyzed. The analyses suggest with high probability that China will sustain high growth and get close to its long-term potential growth rate in the coming decades: 7–10% annually in the next 15 years and 5–7% annually in the following 15 years.     

Productivity and convergence in India: A state-level analysis

Total factor productivity plays an important role in the growth of the Indian economy. Using state-level data from 1993 to 2005 that were recently made available, we find widespread regional variation in productivity changes. In the years immediately following economic liberalization, productivity growth improved technical efficiency; however, in subsequent years, productivity growth was propelled by technological progress. We find a tendency toward convergence with regard to productivity growth among states; however, the states that were technically efficient when the economic reforms were instituted remained innovative in later years.     

Human capital and economic growth in Spain, 1850–2000

We investigate human capital accumulation in Spain using income- and education-based alternative approaches. We, then, assess human capital impact on labor productivity growth and discuss the implications of its alternative measures for TFP growth. Trends in human capital are similar with either measure but the skill-premium approach fits better Spanish historical experience. As education is a high income elastic good, human capital growth computed with the education-based approach seems upward biased for the recent past. Human capital provided a positive albeit small contribution to labor productivity growth facilitating technological innovation.     

Role of Endogenous Vintage Specific Depreciation in the Optimal Behavior of Firms

This paper studies the firms' capital accumulation process in a vintage capital model with embodied technological change. We take into account that depreciation is endogenous and in particular associated with vintage specific maintenance expenditure. We prove that maintenance is a local substitute for investment as soon as the marginal cost of maintenance is strictly increasing. We show that maintenance and investment in new capital goods appear as complements with respect to the changes in productivity, cost of maintenance, fixed cost of operation, efficiency of maintenance services and appear as substitutes with respect to the price of new machines. Allowing for investment in old vintages, we determine that investment in old machines appears as a substitute of both investments in new machines and maintenance services. We end up by analyzing the effects of technological progress on optimal plans and prove that a negative anticipation effect can occur even without any market imperfections.