ICT spillovers and productivity in Canada: provincial and industry analysis

Research on the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) on productivity in developed countries is already extensive, but the spillover and time-varying effects of ICT investment across economic activities have been only minimally explored. This paper investigates the impacts of ICT and its spillovers on productivity in Canada, focusing on heterogeneity across provinces and industries over time. The panel data estimation model includes 10 provinces with diverse economic activities for the period 1990–2008, and the two-digit level industries for the period 1981–2008. The findings show that ICT has a positive impact on labour productivity, but the effects vary significantly across provinces, industries, and time. Specifically, while provinces with higher shares of manufacturing and services in their GDP have reaped the benefits of ICT investment, other provinces primarily dependent on natural resources and agriculture are lagging behind. The industry-level analysis also reveals that manufacturing and services industries have benefited from ICT investment much more than primary sector industries. The results further indicate that ICT investment in the USA, a major trading partner, has spilled over to some Canadian provinces and industries and that the overall ICT effects are stabilized in those ICT-intensive provinces and industries.     

Revisiting the threshold effect of remittances on total factor productivity growth in South Asia: a study of Bangladesh and India

Both Bangladesh and India are among the top recipient of remittances in absolute terms. However, in relative terms – remittances as a per cent of GDP – the two countries stand at 6.1% and 2.8%, respectively, well below the levels of the top 10 recipients. In this article, we explore the effect of remittances on the total factor productivity (TFP) growth considering Bangladesh and India, as reference countries over the periods 1980–2012 and 1977–2012, respectively. We examine the presence of a long-run association between remittances and TFP using a number of tests. The results indicate that remittances have threshold effects on TFP growth in both countries. Despite the two countries receiving substantial amount of remittances, we note that Bangladesh has a U-shaped relationship whereas India has an inverted U-shaped relationship with TFP growth. For Bangladesh, a minimum threshold of remittances (% GDP) is 5.3% and for India, a tipping point of remittances (% GDP) is at 1.8%. The causality tests confirm a bidirectional effect, which implies that remittances and TFP growth are mutually reinforcing. Interestingly, while the two economies have similar remittances impact in regards to causality, the study highlights two different tipping points of remittances.     

Industrial labour productivities and tariffs in South Africa

The analysis of the effect of tariffs for labour productivity faces the challenge of tariff policy endogeneity. Tariff policy is designed to promote economic development and the industrial sector tariff structure may reflect characteristics of the industries protected. We seek to identify the effect of tariffs by taking advantage of multilateral tariff liberalization using reductions in industrial sector tariffs in other world regions as instruments for sectoral tariff reductions in South Africa. The data cover 28 manufacturing sectors over the period 1988–2003. We find that tariff reductions have stimulated labour productivity when instrumented by multilateral tariffs. The ordinary least‐squares estimates show downward bias and this confirms the endogeneity of tariffs. Investigation of channels of effects shows some support for the importance of competitive pressure and technology spillover from trade liberalization.     

R&D两面性、技术引进与浙江省高技术产业全要素生产率增长

基于DEA-Malmquist指数测算浙江省高技术产业全要素生产率,运用一阶差分模型和加权最小二乘法检验了R&D两面性、技术引进对浙江省高技术产业全要素生产率增长的影响。研究发现:1998-2012年,浙江省高技术产业全要素生产率整体低于全国平均水平,处于负增长状态;R&D创新能力对浙江省高技术产业全要素生产率促进作用不显著,而R&D吸收能力和技术引进抑制作用显著,其吸收能力未能与技术引进互为补充共同促进浙江省高技术产业全要素生产率增长。研究结果表明:以中小型高技术企业为主的浙江省高技术产业急需全面推进创新驱动发展战略,继续以自主R&D为主、技术引进为辅,持续加大R&D投入,增强R&D创新能力和吸收能力。