Interindustry effects of productivity growth in Japan: 1960–2000

Combining conventional sectoral growth accounting and the static open input–output price model, we analyze the sources of growth of product prices in Japan during the period 1960–2000. Using the input–output framework, we take into account not only the effects of factor costs and productivity within a sector, but also their impacts outside of the sector. We find that Japan's deflation in the 1990s was characterized by low growth of wage rates, low productivity growth, and a low rate of return on capital. Until 1990, productivity improvements compensated for factor cost pressures on output price, especially the rapid growth of labor cost. In contrast, during the 1990s, decreasing rates of return on capital, not productivity improvements, canceled out the inflationary effect of wage growth. J. Japanese Int. Economies 19 (4) (2005) 568–585.     

Productivity Growth and Some of Its Determinants in the Deregulated U.S. Railroad Industry

This study analyzes the effects of an important postderegulation innovation on rail freight productivity: the elimination of cabooses and related crew members. It also analyzes the overall growth of productivity in rail freight between 1983 and 1997 (using a translog rail cost function estimated over a sample of Class I railroads between 1983 and 1997). The results indicate that elimination of cabooses and associated crew members from freight trains reduced costs by 5-8% on the typical Class I railroad in 1997, equivalent to an annual cost saving of $2 billion to $3.3 billion for all Class I railroads. Moreover, if Class I railroads had no other technological advances since 1983, their 1997 costs (with 1997 factor prices) would have been 36-43% higher than they in fact were. Finally, the results show that overall productivity growth in rail freight did not decelerate between 1983 and 1997; if anything, it accelerated slightly.     

基于百度指数的公路运价指数RO-ELM预测

公路运价指数是公路运输市场波动的衡量指标,对中国的公路运输业有重要的预示功能.利用极限学习机(ELM)的神经网络模型快速、低成本预测公路运价指数.以各百度指数与公路运价指数的相关性确定各分量对公路运价指数的影响,进而利用ADF平稳性检验与Johansen协整检验构建输入序列,最后运用时域优化思想优化输入变量,在ELM神经网络模型内输出预测值.结果表明:基于滚动窗口的ELM模型的MAPE与RMSE分别为1.85％ 与25.17,比单一ELM模型在平均绝对百分比误差和均方根误差上都有提升,预测结果与指数波动相符,可以为公路运价指数的走向提供决策参考.     

Productivity growth in Indonesian agriculture, 1961–2000

This paper uses an index number approach to measure total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Indonesian crop and livestock agriculture from 1961 to 2000. Tornqvist-Theil chain-weighted indices of output, input and TFP are developed to minimise biases that may result from relative changes in input and output price aggregation weights. The results indicate that agricultural TFP growth accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s but stagnated in the 1990s. Without new efforts to increase productivity in agriculture, Indonesia's goal of using agricultural growth to generate broad-based rural development and further reduce poverty may be undermined.     

Factor prices and productivity growth during the British industrial revolution

This paper presents new estimates of total factor productivity growth in Britain for the period 1770-1860. We use the dual technique and argue that the estimates we derive from factor prices are of similar quality to quantity-based calculations. Our results provide further evidence, calculated on the basis of an independent set of sources, that productivity growth during the British Industrial Revolution was relatively slow. The Crafts-Harley view of the Industrial Revolution is thus reinforced. Our preferred estimates suggest a modest acceleration after 1800.     

Growth and Productivity in Singapore Manufacturing Industries: 1975–1998

Consistently defined price and volume relatives are constructed for 18 manufacturing industries under the two-digit industry classifications officially adopted in 1996. Industry-specific output and materials price deflators for the period 1974–1998 are also constructed. Where the comparison is possible, we arrive at a markedly different conclusion from those in Tsao (1982, 1985 ) and Young (1994 ), and narrow the cause to a difference in the choice of output measure. The updated accounts show that the conventional index number measure of total factor productivity growth (TFPG) for Singapore manufacturing is 2.7% per annum for the period 1975–1998, and exhibits a cyclical pattern over time.     

New evidence on the fluctuations in ocean freight rates in the 1850s

Newly constructed global indices of ocean freight rates in the 1850s show large cyclical fluctuations in these years. A new type of freight rate index, referred to as a repeat sailings index, is presented, which is similar to a type of index frequently applied to house prices. An econometric model of the freight rate market is estimated on monthly data from the 1850s. It is found that harvest failures, business cycles, the supply of tonnage and the Crimean War all significantly affected freight rates in this period. The Crimean War may have accounted for about a quarter of the surge in freight rates in the years prior to the outbreak of the War; once the War broke out in March 1854, however, it was of less importance.     

基于我国东部地区的服务业全要素生产率研究

采用非参数Malmquist指数方法实证分析了2001—2008年我国东部地区10个省份中国服务业全要素生产率的增长状况,并将其分解为技术效率和技术进步。通过研究发现我国东部地区服务业经济增长效率在这段时间是逐步提升的,技术进步是主要的推动力,而技术效率贡献微乎其微,要提高我国服务业全要素生产率水平,需要在注重技术进步的同时也要注重技术效率的提升。     

Process Versus Product Innovation: Do Consumption Data Contain Any Information?

In a model of endogenous growth in which product and process innovations are the joint outputs of an unspecified research program, we show that if quality growth is not captured by official price indices the usual isomorphism of product and process innovations breaks down. We derive and estimate a Euler equation for a representative consumer under the assumption of measurement error. Unobserved quality improvements account for at least half of growth, and real productivity growth in postwar United States was two to five times greater than measured total factor productivity (TFP) growth. We also find that at least 15% of the measured slowdown in TFP growth can be attributed to unobserved increases in the relative importance of product innovations.     

基于技能偏向性技术进步的经济增长动能分解

在传统Solow增长核算框架基础上引入异质性劳动投入以及技能偏向性技术进步,从而将经济增长分解为固定资本投入增长、劳动投入增长、技能结构深化、技能偏向性技术进步、中性技术进步及效率改进等五种动能。研究发现：第一,中国经济增长主要由固定资本投入以及全要素生产率增长共同驱动,其中资本投入对经济增长年均贡献率为61.64%,全要素生产率增长的年均贡献率则为35.66%,中国区别于其他中低收入国家的发展奇迹背后正是较快的全要素生产率增长;第二,即使对于高收入国家而言,资本投入仍然是主要的经济增长动能;第三,技能结构深化以及技能偏向性技术进步是全要素生产率的主要来源,二者对中国经济增长的年均贡献率分别为32.04%和21.27%;第四,资源配置效率变化是引起全要素生产率波动的主要因素,资源配置效率下降是导致2008年后中国以及大部分高收入国家全要素生产率增速放缓的主要原因。     

FDI、知识溢出与生产率增长——基于DEA方法和状态空间模型的经验研究

本文利用DEA方法对中国全要素生产率进行了测算,在此基础上建立国际知识溢出分析框架,检验了基于FDI渠道的国外知识资本对全要素生产率的溢出效应。结果表明:国内知识资本和基于FDI渠道的国外知识资本对TFP增长起到显著的促进作用;通过对TFP进行分解发现,两者对技术进步促进作用明显,对技术效率影响微弱;采用状态空间模型进一步分析发现,于FDI渠道的国外知识资本对TFP的贡献度在不断上升。     

Integration and Causality in International Freight Markets: Modeling with Error Correction and Directed Acyclic Graphs

Using directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) and error correction models, we study the dynamics of freight prices that comprise the Baltic Panamax Index (BPI), the index on which freight futures trading was based. The DAGs are used to make statements about the contemporaneous correlations between prices and allow us to address the construction of the data-determined orthogonalization on contemporaneous innovation covariance, which is crucial in providing inference in innovation accounting techniques. Our results provide a source of information on price discovery and suggest that the index is not appropriately composed and weighted, which may help explain the failure of the Baltic International Freight Futures Exchange (BIFFEX) contract.     

Revising price history: consumer price index for Norway 1492–2018

ABSTRACT

The paper presents a new combined annual cost of living and consumer price index for Norway covering 1492–2018, indicating that Norwegian price history has to be revised. The new historical price index is constructed on a significantly richer data material, which also makes it cover a longer period of price history than the existing one. This is made possible by the compilation of quantitative data from numerous sources, mostly originating from the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with grain prices stretching back to 1492. The new combined cost of living and consumer price index is constructed by a Laspeyres approach with shifting baskets for commodities and expenditure groups.

The index makes it possible to follow annual inflation and deflation in Norway for a period of 526 years. When comparing to existing indices, the new series reveals that revisions are needed in Norwegian price history. These make the historical price development more in line with those of the neighbouring countries and more in line with the pattern of wholesale prices.     

黄金对美元和通货膨胀的对冲作用研究

在全球经济危机背景下黄金市场如火如荼,与萧条的全球市场产生巨大反差。同时引发了对黄金的新一轮追捧热潮。本文通过使用1995年1月至2009年6月期间的月度数据调查黄金对美元以及美国国内通货膨胀的对冲作用。通过协整检验明确了黄金价格和美元指数以及消费价格指数之间的长期关系。基于向量误差修正模型的格兰杰因果检验证明了黄金价格对美元指数以及消费者物价指数的单向作用。另外,研究结果还显示黄金可以作为通货膨胀的指示器对宏观经济指定提供参考。     

Does the productivity J-curve exist in Japan?-Empirical studies based on the multiple q theory

Brynjolfsson, Rock, and Syverson (2021) argued that the standard TFP growth is low during an investment boom for new technology such as the IT revolution. As the new capital is operated and productivity improves, the shape of the movements in the standard productivity growth resembles a J-curve. However, when costs associated with investment for new technology are recognized as intangible investment - which is not counted in the conventional value added –, the revised TFP growth including these unmeasured intangibles show different movements from the standard TFP growth. Following Brynjolfsson, Rock, and Syverson (2021), we examine the gap between the standard TFP growth and the revised TFP growth. According to their theory, unmeasured intangibles are estimated by the gap between the shadow value and the price of investment goods. We obtain this shadow value of investment through an estimated parameter in each asset using listed firm-level data and revise the standard TFP growth rate. In the case of all industries, the standard TFP growth is overestimated in most years in the late 1990s and the 2000s, because the growth in intangible investment associated with measured investment is lower than measured capital accumulation rate. When we focus on the IT-intensive industries, we find the productivity J-curve in the late 1990s, at the early stage of the IT revolution, as indicated by Brynjolfsson, Rock and Syverson (2021).     

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.     

Misallocation and price distortions: A revenue decomposition of medical service providers in China

The provision of healthcare services and the distribution of medial resources across the China health system hierarchy is characterized by an inverted pyramid with alarming congestions in the so-called AAA tertiary hospitals. This study tries to investigate this baseline misallocation issue prior to the introduction of the new healthcare reforms in 2009. Building upon established framework, we developed an alternative measure for dispersion of factor price distortions. Using a large national microdata, the results obtained are consistent with previous studies in that for a less developed geographical market, often characterized by poorer factor mobility and weaker market competition, dispersion of the factor price distortions is high, reflecting high degree of misallocation. We also developed a decomposition of revenue dispersion to make inferences about the major channels through which the inverted pyramid arises. The analysis reveals the extent to which, the disproportionately large share of revenues generated by high-tier tertiary hospitals in China, can be attributed to their high productivity and the public trusts in them as providers of quality care.     

The Impact of Economic Reform on Productivity Growth in Chinese Industry: A Case of Xiamen Special Economic Zone

China's industrial and trade reforms were expected to stimulate growth in output and welfare by increasing the capacity of industry to absorb surplus factors of production, and by utilizing labour, capital, energy and materials more efficiently. The impact of the special economic zone reform policies on productivity and growth is assessed by studies of China's overall industrial sector performance and case studies in Xiamen and Shanghai Beijing, which is not subject to special policy initiatives, is used as a control. Although there were data limitations, several conclusions may be drawn. An increase in total factor productivity was found to have occurred in Xiamen during the reform period, but the creation of the special economic zone does not appear to have had a significant impact on productivity. Productivity performance in Beijing's state-owned industry was considerably poorer than that of total Xiamen industry, including state, collective and firms jointly owned with foreign investors, and was also lower than the productivity performance of Xiamen's state sector. The productivity performance of Xiamen's joint ventures and collectively owned firms was, however, considerably superior to the state sectors in both cities. Due to data constraints, the analysis of productivity in Shanghai was for a shorter period. Most of Shanghai's state-owned industry did better than the state-owned sector in Beijing but did not perform as well as the non-State sector in Xiamen over this period. Factor productivity in Shanghai industry was stagnant, Beijing's industrial productivity generally declined, but Xiamen's productivity improved considerably over the decade. One of the major strengths of this study is its access to new and more accurate disaggregated price indices to deflate capital investments on an industry by industry basis. Hence, the availability of the new capital stock deflator series should improve the total factor productivity estimates considerably.     

The evolution of wages in early modern Normandy (1600–1850)

This article presents new estimates of wages for Normandy between 1600 and 1850. We use a vast array of primary and secondary sources to assemble two new databases on wages and commodity prices to establish a new regional consumer price index (CPI) and twelve regional wage series. We find that unskilled labourers earned similar wages across the agricultural, maritime, and textile sectors. Historical evidence suggests that Norman employers grappled with a tight labour market, which placed more pressure on wage increases. We posit that this situation is best explained by the combination of the early fertility transition, resulting in slow demographic growth and the rapid development of the textile industry accelerated by the arrival of cotton. Finally, we also provide tentative evidence suggesting that labourers with stable employment could have earned a little less than their English counterparts during this period.     

The Rise of the Sunbelt

In the last 50 years, population and incomes have increased steadily throughout much of the Sunbelt. This paper assesses the relative contributions of rising productivity, rising demand for Southern amenities, and increases in housing supply to the growth of warm areas, using data on income, housing price, and population growth. Before 1980, economic productivity increased significantly in warmer areas and drove the population growth in those places. Since 1980, productivity growth has been more modest, but housing supply growth has been enormous. We infer that new construction in warm regions represents a growth in supply, rather than demand, from the fact that prices are generally falling relative to the rest of the country. The relatively slow pace of housing price growth in the Sunbelt, relative to the rest of the country and relative to income growth, also implies that there has been no increase in the willingness to pay for sun-related amenities. As such, it seems that the growth of the Sunbelt has little to do with the sun.