Technical efficiency and productivity growth of entrant firms in the retail sector in Spain

This paper analyses efficiency and productivity growth in relation to size, and age and for both entrant and incumbent firms using a birth cohort approach for the period 1995–2003 for two sectors, non-specialized shop (521) and specialized shop (524) three-digit NACE. On the one hand, our results indicate the existence of statistically significant differences among entrant and incumbent firms by size. Also, we found differences according to the start up size in relation to membership of the birth cohort and activity sectors. On the other hand, productivity growth shows that, in general, the larger entrants in the non-specialized sector obtained higher productivity than did small firms. This phenomenon was not observed in the specialized sector, where firms worsened in productivity in most of the cohorts and we did not find significant differences in productivity growth between large and small firms. Efficiency changes tend to be a positive contributor to total factor productivity change, but technical change tends to be a negative contributor for both sectors. A deeper analysis of the efficiency changes (catching up) has shown that these improvements are generally attributed to pure technical efficiency and the scale.     

Is Productivity Growth Too Strong For Our Own Good?

Productivity growth and improvement in a nation's standard of living are widely thought to go hand in hand. During the past 15 years, however, the gap between productivity growth and growth of living standards has widened, igniting a debate about whether a larger share of the benefits from productivity gains has gone to capital rather than labor. The first phase of our study characterizes U.S. productivity growth for the period 1948–2011. Our statistical analysis found that productivity growth did not follow one particular pattern over time, and we therefore doubt that it would follow one pattern (either a higher or lower growth rate) in the near future. Our analysis concludes that the “productivity resurgence” era of 1996:Q1 to 2011:Q4 is associated with lower growth rates of real per capita income, employment, and consumer confidence relative to productivity. That may validate the “savage cost-cutting” and “polarization” hypotheses. The stable and higher growth rates of corporate profits and the S&P 500 index indicate that capital and higher skilled workers may have gained benefits from productivity growth over time. A simultaneous rise in food stamp recipients and income share of the top 0.01 percent during the post-mid-1990s era suggest that the distribution of the stronger productivity growth gains is asymmetric.     

Productivity in the services sector: conventional and current explanations

One of the most conventional statements in economics, with regard to the services sector, suggests that, as a whole, this sector has a lower productivity level and growth rates than the other productive sectors. From this approach, we can derive the relative lower productivity in some advanced economies (such as the European countries versus the USA and some particular emergent economies) as an explanation of the growth of the tertiary sector. This paper will look in greater depth at issues related to services productivity, from conceptual aspects regarding the definition and meaning of productivity to methodological and measurement of services productivity. This work is essentially a necessary revision of the literature on economic growth, productivity and the services sector, reviewing not only the conventional literature but also those new waves of thinking.     

Productivity Growth,Protection and Plant Entry in a Deregulating Economy: The Case of India

In this paper we study the comparative performance of Indian manufacturing industries during relatively recent periods of domestic regulation and de-regulation of plant entry. The period of de-regulation is accompanied by largely unchanging levels of import competition and higher output growth. The growth of labour and total factor productivity (TFPG) is observed to be higher during the deregulation period. We use data on 42 three-digit manufacturing industries. Our sample covers consumer, intermediate and capital good industries. We study the relationship between levels of effective protection and total factor productivity growth (TFPG). We found that increasing effective rates of protection was not associated with lower TFPG. We test the hypothesis that higher degree of trade protection induces greater entry of plants. This hypothesis is statistically supported. Our econometric estimates found a positive association between net entry and TFPG, after controlling for inter-industry differences in effective protection, asset size of plants and demand growth. Our results support the proposition that competition positively contributes to TFPG during deregulation.     

International spillovers of knowledge and sectoral productivity growth: some evidence for Canada and the United States

This paper develops and tests a two-country model of a monopolistically competitive industry in which the production function shifts endogenously via national and international spillovers of knowledge. The basic version of this model implies that, in the long run, the growth rate of sectoral productivity is the same in each country. In support of this version, for a number of matched Canadian and US manufacturing industries, the paper finds that these two countries' rates of sectoral productivity growth tend to converge despite marked international differences in R and D.     

Productivity growth,technical progress and efficiency change in Spanish retail trade (1995–2004): a disaggregated sectoral analysis

This article analyses productivity growth in Spanish retail stores during the period 1995–2004. It is also interested in analysing the influence of regulation/deregulation processes on the efficiency and productivity of the firms. The analysis is carried out from a disaggregated sectoral perspective at the 4-digit NACE code level. The non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis approach is used to compute Malmquist productivity indexes. These are decomposed into efficiency change and technical change. Big differences are found in the productivity growth for each sector. First, six retail sectors experienced positive productivity growth, while six saw productivity growth decrease. Second, most sectors experienced technical progress. Third, some sectors improved their efficiency, while others became less efficient. Fourth, the TFP improvements were almost entirely due to technical progress, and only four sectors improved their efficiency. The findings obtained from the analysis of the deregulation of opening hours show two important facts: (i) the differences in the productivity and the efficiency of the firms between sectors, and (ii) the losses /improvements of efficiency of the firms in relation to the effects of the shop opening hours or the lack of adaptation to the environment.     

Characterising Euro Area Multinationals

This study uses firm‐level data on a large sample of European manufacturing firms to investigate the links between opening up foreign affiliates and firms’ productivity. The analysis is guided by recent theoretical models of international trade with firm heterogeneity. The paper finds that while only a small share of euro area firms locate affiliates abroad, these firms account for over‐proportionally large shares of output, employment and profits in their home countries. They have higher survival rates and their productivity growth is also higher. The strongest contribution is by productivity growth of existing firms with a multinational status rather than entry into the multinational status. Finally, there are performance premia for multinationals with a large number of affiliates abroad relative to those with a small number.     

Multinational Enterprises and Foreign Direct Investment: Introduction

This study uses firm‐level data on a large sample of European manufacturing firms to investigate the links between opening up foreign affiliates and firms’ productivity. The analysis is guided by recent theoretical models of international trade with firm heterogeneity. The paper finds that while only a small share of euro area firms locate affiliates abroad, these firms account for over‐proportionally large shares of output, employment and profits in their home countries. They have higher survival rates and their productivity growth is also higher. The strongest contribution is by productivity growth of existing firms with a multinational status rather than entry into the multinational status. finally, there are performance premia for multinationals with a large number of affiliates abroad relative to those with a small number.     

市场开放度、劳动生产率与我国地区工资差异

以新经济地理学的空间工资结构理论为基础,实证分析了我国西部大开发以来市场开放度、劳动生产率与地区工资差异之间的关系,结果表明,从全国角度来看,市场开放度和人力资本的增加对工资增长的贡献效应很显著,劳动生产率和外商直接投资的增加虽然对工资增长的贡献效应为正,但其效果并不明显;分东、中、西地区来看,市场开放度增加对工资增长的贡献,东部高于中部,更高于西部;人力资本的贡献效应则恰好与之相反;劳动生产率和外商直接投资的增加对工资增长的贡献效应在不同地区的差别并不明显。     

我国2005～2010年不同所有制工业企业效率的度量和比较

采用生产率理论中的DEA-Malmquist指数方法对我国按注册登记的7种所有制工业企业2005~2010年的数据进行分析,测度结果发现样本期间企业的全要素生产率差异微小,且国有企业效率稍高于其他企业,所有制并未构成影响企业效率的主要因素。通过对全要素生产率的拆分发现,生产率变动受外部宏观经济形势的影响较大,表现为在2008~2009年金融危机爆发期间私营企业和外资企业技术变化指数的剧烈波动。国有企业效率的稳步增长与私营企业效率的波动印证了企业生产率的增长与外部融资支持密切正相关。     

The Shadow of Death – An Emperical Analysis of the Pre-Exit Performance of New German Firms

This paper makes an empirical contribution to the confirmation of the stylized fact that the performance of firms deteriorates in the years before exit. For this reason it is evaluated whether market exits differ significantly in their employment development in the years before market drop-out compared to surviving firms that have been selected using a non-parametric matching approach. The comparison of the employment growth rates among both groups reveals that the matched surviving firms experience higher growth rates compared to their exiting counterparts up to three years before market exit. Moreover, differences exist between Eastern and Western Germany due to various reasons.     

Foreign Direct Investment and Productivity Spillovers: Firm-Level Evidence From Chilean Industrial Sector

Using firm-level panel data, this article examines whether spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) make a contribution to productivity growth in Chilean manufacturing firms. The main contribution of this work is to apply a methodology to estimate, in a consistent manner, the productivity impact of investment climate variables, such as FDI. With this aim, the spillover effects from FDI are analyzed using a stochastic frontier approach (SFA). Productivity growth is decomposed using a generalized Malmquist output-oriented index. The results show positive productivity spillovers from FDI; higher competition is associated with larger spillovers; and firms with high R&D effort gain more spillover benefits compared to those with less R&D effort.     

A model of endogenous growth that elucidates the complexity of South–North convergence

This North–South model of Schumpeterian endogenous growth combines a market, productivity and knowledge effect. Depending upon the interaction of these effects, various convergent and divergent South–North growth paths occur: for example, full or partial convergence of the Southern technology level to the Northern one, conditional convergence or divergence depending upon the Southern initial technology level and absorptive capacity, higher or lower as well as decreasing or increasing growth rates during the phase of catching up, and equal or higher growth rates of the South compared to the North after catching up. This set of growth paths can better explain the diversity of the empirical observations for economies at different income and technology levels than those generated by existing models. In this new model, convergence based on North–South trade and associated flows of patents (innovations) is guaranteed if the knowledge effect dominates the productivity effect. A larger Southern market expands the area of convergence and can prevent divergence. Not only a larger Southern market, but also a higher Southern steady state growth rate benefit the North so that convergence is desirable for both, the South and the North.     

Export Premia and Subcontracting Discount: Passive Strategies and Performance in Domestic and Foreign Markets

This paper contributes to the literature on firms’ productivity and exporting decisions by analysing the role played by organisational choice aspects. Rather than setting up a vertically integrated structure, manufacturers may act as subcontractors in both domestic and foreign markets, and produce to satisfy the requirements of other firms. The predictions that the most productive firms self‐select into exporting, whereas the least productive ones work as subcontractors serving the domestic market only, are tested on a sample of Italian firms observed during the 1998–2003 period. The results of our estimates highlight a ranking of firms consistent with a priori expectations, and provide a clear indication that passive exporters (i.e. those using subcontracting in foreign markets) display lower total factor productivity (TFP) values when compared with direct exporters. Moreover, only the latter category exhibits higher pre‐entry productivity levels and growth rates as well as higher post‐entry TFP growth rates. Such findings are consistent with both the self‐selection hypothesis and the learning‐by‐exporting explanation.     

The Dynamics of Productivity: A Decompostion Approach Using Distribution Functions

In this paper we use a micro panel data set of Spanish manufacturing firms to measure the contributions of continuing firms and turnover to total factor productivity growth over the period 1990–1997. The paper proposes an approach to the decomposition of productivity growth that is based on the estimation of productivity distributions. We characterize the dynamics of productivity distributions defining counterfactual distributions and using non-parametric methods. The results we obtain indicate that incumbent firms are the main factor contributing to the change in the productivity distribution. Net entry contributes positively to TFP growth. Finally, changes in the relative weights of incumbent, entering and exiting firms produce a counter-cyclical movement of productivity.     

Productivity Growth in the European Insurance Industry: Evidence from Life and Non-Life Companies

This paper estimates and decomposes productivity growth for a sample of European insurance companies using Standard and Poor’s Eurothesys panel data set of company accounts. We focus on a period (1995–2008) where substantial deregulation took place, as well as significant shocks to global capital markets and unforeseen climatic and terrorism-related events. We estimate parametric stochastic production frontiers for life and non-life insurance from which we decompose productivity growth using a derivative-based approach. In order to capture the inherent variability of productivity in the insurance sector, we explore the consequences of adopting three different proxy measures for insurance output. In each case, we observe temporal variations in overall productivity growth for both life and non-life insurance, corresponding to systematic shocks to the market. The decomposition of these fluctuations provides important lessons for the measurement of long-term productivity growth in insurance markets and more generally in sectors which are exposed to stochastic and market-wide systematic shocks to performance. Our findings cast doubt on many previous studies of productivity growth in the financial service sector where outputs are inevitably difficult to measure due to their contingent nature. The choice of output proxies appears to be critical, particularly when exploring long-term productivity trends.     

Export Premium,Self‐selection and Learning‐by‐Exporting: Evidence from Chinese Matched Firms

This study empirically focuses on examining the hypotheses of export premium (exporters are more productive than non‐exporters), selection‐into‐exporting (more productive firms are ones that tend to become exporters) and learning‐by‐exporting (new export market entrants have higher productivity growth than non‐exporters in the post‐entry period). The propensity score matching method is used to adjust for observable differences of firm characteristics between exporters and non‐exporters, allowing an adequate ‘like‐for‐like’ comparison. We also use the difference‐in‐difference matching estimator to capture the magnitude of different productivity growth between matched new export market entrants and non‐exporters in the post‐entry period up to two years. Drawing on 2,340 Chinese firms in the period 2000–02, we find evidence for export premium and self‐selection, and once the firm has entered the export market there is additional productivity growth from the learning effect, in particular in the second year after entry.     

Examining the economic growth and the middle-income trap from the perspective of the middle class

In recent decades, while some countries have been growing consistently, others were not able to keep high growth rates and got stuck in the “middle-income trap.” This study aims to explore the relationship between the middle class and the persistence of economic growth, and understand the role of the middle class in avoiding the middle-income trap which is a serious threat for many emerging markets, yet an understudied topic in the academic literature. Our findings suggest that the key growth factors including the middle class, innovation, productivity, and foreign direct investment have diminishing marginal effect on economic growth. Moreover, the middle class plays an important role in avoiding the middle-income trap. We also find regional differences in the middle-class growth and economic evolution of emerging markets over time. To our knowledge, this is the first study examining the relationships between the middle class, economic growth, and the middle-income trap.     

Technical efficiency and human capital in the retail sector

The performance of the British retail sectors in terms of productivity growth is not brilliant. This paper focuses on a specific component of productivity growth (technical efficiency) and tests the extent to which its variance across the sector can be explained by the differences in the educational attainment of the pool of workers to which retail firms have access. The empirical analysis is carried out on a sample of 1061 retail firms from the Annual Respondents Database, 1997–2005. The results confirm that the county-level differences of the stock of human capital can explain the technical efficiency differentials across the sector.     

Downsizing and productivity growth: Myth or reality?

The conventional wisdom is that the rising productivity in the U.S. manufacturing sector in the 1980s has been driven by the apparently pervasive downsizing over this period. Aggregate evidence clearly shows falling employment accompanying the rise in productivity. In this paper, we examine the microeconomic evidence using the plant level data from the Longitudinal Research Database (LRD). In contrast to the conventional wisdom, we find that plants that increased employment as well as productivity contribute almost as much to overall productivity growth in the 1980s as the plants that increased productivity at the expense of employment. Further, there are striking differences by sector (defined by industry, size, region, wages, and ownership type) in the allocation of plants in terms of whether they upsize or downsize and whether they increase or decrease productivity. Nevertheless, in spite of the striking differences across sectors defined in a variety of ways, most of the variance of productivity and employment growth is accounted for by idiosyncratic factors.