The impacts of membership in multi-hospital systems on cost,productivity growth and technical change

We examine whether affiliation in a multi-hospital system contributes to higher rates of total factor productivity (TFP) growth, technological progress and cost efficiency. With a 1996 to 1999 panel of 248 US hospitals (some are private nonprofit (church-related and other nonprofit) and the remaining are public (government, nonfederal)), empirical results indicate that urban system member hospitals experienced higher rates of both TFP growth and technical progress than the rates of TFP growth and technical progress experienced by urban nonsystem hospitals. Rural system member hospitals experienced smaller rates of both TFP decline and technical regress than the rates of TFP decline and technical regress experienced by rural nonsystem hospitals.     

New technologies and productivity growth in the euro area

This paper provides an overview of the available evidence on the importance of information and communication technologies (ICT) for developments in average labour productivity (ALP) growth in the euro area. The contribution of ICT to ALP growth is found to have increased both in terms of production and investment over the 1990s (up to 2001). However, there is no evidence of significant positive spillover effects from the use of ICT on ALP growth. This implies that there is no reason to believe that potential output growth in the euro area has increased significantly in recent years on account of new technologies. Comparing developments in the euro area and the United States, it appears, however, that ICT capital cannot account for much of the difference in ALP developments over the 1990s. This suggests that cyclical developments and, in particular, the structure of the economy are more important for explaining the difference in performance.First version received: March 2002/Final version received: May 2003We thank Bart van Ark, Neale Kennedy, Gerard Korteweg, Ad van Riet, Marcel Timmer, two anonymous referees and participants at the 17th Congress of the European Economic Association, Venice August 2002 for their comments. All errors and omissions remain ours, of course. We thank Erikos Velissaratos for his help in acquiring data on investment in ICT and Colin Webb for providing us with the OECD STAN database. This paper represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Central Bank, the European Commission or their staff.     

Productivity growth of newly industrializing economies in heterogeneous capital goods markets: the case of the Korean machinery and equipment industry

Although many previous studies have investigated the economic growth of East Asian countries from the perspective of productivity growth, they have adopted a limited focus only on the national level or on the aggregated level and have overlooked the heterogeneity at the disaggregated level. Furthermore, only a few studies have examined the sources of the remarkable growth and trade performance of the Korean machinery and equipment industry, despite its importance for sustainable growth of national economy. Therefore, we investigated the Total Factor Productivity Growth (TFPG) of the Korean machinery and equipment industry and its 12 sub-sectors from 1970 to 2012 using the stochastic frontier production approach. As a result, we found that the industry has achieved labour input-driven TFPG largely due to technical progress. This is contrary to the previous result that East Asia has expanded the production frontier by capital accumulation. In contrast, in some sub-sectors, scale effect and allocation efficiency have driven TFPG. We also found distinctive patterns of TFPG across different sub-sectors from the perspectives of the effect of input factors and the pattern of technical progress. These results imply that policy makers should consider industry-specific policy designs that incorporate the specific characteristics of individual sub-sectors.     

The global effects of productivity gains in Asian emerging economies

This paper investigates international responses of key macroeconomic variables to simultaneous shocks to productivity in the traded sector in eight Asian emerging and developing countries. We use panel estimation techniques to construct component sub-models in a thirty country global vector autoregressive (GVAR) model. We identify the shocks by using sign restricted impulse responses. We find that increases in traded-sector productivity in Asian emerging and developing countries have a positive effect on economic growth and international trade for most countries.     

福建省农业全要素生产率变动原因的实证分析

本文利用Malmquist指数方法,测算了1990—2007年福建省的农业技术进步率、技术效率增长率以及全要素生产率增长率;然后,利用协整检验和脉冲响应函数动态模拟福建省对外开放(对外开放度)对福建省农业技术进步变化率、技术效率变化率的影响,以及对外开放和两者的协整关系,进而说明福建省对外开放对其农业全要素生产率变动的作用。结果表明:20世纪90年代以来,福建省对外开放与其农业技术进步、技术效率变化和全要素生产率增长具有长期稳定均衡关系;福建省对外经济开放对福建省农业技术效率具有促进作用,但对农业技术进步具有"挤出效应"。     

Economic growth in emerging economies: what,who and why

This article proposes a general definition of emerging economies (EEs) and investigates the main determinants of their high rates of economic growth by extending the basic framework of neoclassical growth models to include various dimensions of economic development. According to the proposed definition, we find a list of 38 EEs for the period 2000–2014, whose emergence is proved to be strictly associated with the decline of the age dependency ratio, the increasing rates of investment growth and the improvements in human capital.     

The sources of total factor productivity growth: Evidence from Canadian data

A dynamic general equilibrium model is constructed and used to identify sources of total factor productivity growth in Canada and to quantify their importance. The model also provides procedures for constructing measures of technological progress. We find that periods of low productivity growth correspond to periods of high growth in investment-specific technology (IST) or high rates of technology embodiment. For example, the growth rate of IST was relatively high between 1974 and 1996. The higher growth rate of IST during this period should have increased the rate of productivity growth by an estimated 0.29 percentage points, ceteris paribus. Yet, productivity growth slowed. Why?     

Industrial structure and jobless growth in transition economies

When does employment growth mirror aggregate growth? Applying a two sector model, where productivity growth differs across sectors of production, this article is concerned with a feature characterising a number of transition economies: a divergence between production and employment growth. In our framework the industrial structure that allows employment growth to mirror output growth is endogenous, and related to a number of industry- and economy-wide characteristics. The article shows how the critical industrial structure necessary for avoiding ‘jobless growth’ is context-specific, questioning a ‘one size fits all’ policy approach when aiming to fulfil the Europe 2020 Strategy.     

Telephone Penetration and Economic Growth in the APEC Region: A Simultaneous Non-Linear GMM Approach

We examine the contributions of the telecommunications infrastructure to economic growth in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies during the period from 1982 to 2003 using a modified version of the model developed by Roller and Waverman (2001). Our estimation results show that, consistent with Roller and Waverman (2001), telecommunication infrastructure has a significant effect on economic growth in the APEC region and that the inclusion of country fixed effects is important for obtaining a more reliable estimate of the growth effect. Moreover, the magnitude of the growth effect is inversely related to the level of telecommunications infrastructure in the APEC economies. While the marginal effect of an increase in telecommunications infrastructure in the APEC region is smaller than that in the OECD countries found in Roller and Waverman (2001), the total contribution of telecommunication infrastructure to economic growth is larger in the former than in the latter.     

Schumpeterian and semi‐endogenous productivity growth explanations

This paper examines the nature and sources of productivity growth in South African manufacturing sectors, from an international comparative perspective. On panel data estimations, we find that the evidence tends to support Schumpeterian explanations of productivity growth for a panel of countries including both developed and developing countries, and a panel of South African manufacturing sectors. By contrast, semi‐endogenous productivity growth is supported for a panel of OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) manufacturing sectors. However, we also report evidence that suggests that sectors are not homogeneous. For this reason, time series evidence may be more reliable than panel data. Time series evidence for South Africa suggests that prospects for the sustained productivity growth associated with Schumpeterian innovation processes, is restricted to a narrow set of sectors. For the OECD manufacturing sectors, both semi‐endogenous and Schumpeterian growth finds support. Schumpeterian growth is present for a larger number of sectors than for South Africa, and is most prevalent in the North American economies.     

Singapore's Manufacturing Sector's TFP Growth: A Decomposition Analysis

Singapore has been criticized recently for experiencing insignificant total factor productivity (TFP) growth. This paper examines whether this criticism is valid in the context of the manufacturing sector of Singapore. Using new data and the stochastic production frontier approach, TFP growth is decomposed into technological progress and changes in technical efficiency. While the results could not reject the hypothesis that Singapore's output growth is mostly input-driven, they show that, despite technological progress, technical inefficiency is the cause for the low and declining TFP growth in the manufacturing sector.J. Comp. Econom., December 2000, 28(4), pp. 828–839. The University of Queensland; Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.     

区域外部性、对外开放与中国经济增长条件收敛

区域经济增长差异是经济发展过程中所出现的必然现象。空间自相关和回归分析方法的运用使我们可以就空间外溢对区域经济增长以及地理分布进行有效的分析。本文在新古典增长模型的基础上,提出了经济增长β收敛的空间计量经济分析模型框架,采用1978-2005年的截面数据,分析了空间外部性和对外开放对β收敛的影响。研究发现我国自改革开放以来区域经济增长不存在显著的绝对收敛。考虑空间外部性和对外开放因素后,可以观察到明显的经济增长条件收敛现象。     

我国工业行业全要素生产率变动分析

基于2006—2009年我国工业行业的面板数据,采用非参数Malmquist指数分析法,对我国工业的全要素生产率变动情况进行了实证研究,并将其分解为技术进步、纯技术效率和规模效率。结果表明:2006—2009年我国工业全要素生产率年均增长率仅为4.3%,技术进步年均增长率为1.6%,技术效率年均增长率为2.7%,技术进步已失去其推动全要素生产率增长的主导性优势地位;我国工业发展需注重同时提高技术效率和技术进步水平,否则全要素生产率增长会受到限制。     

What determines the productivity growth? Evidence from Chinese renewable energy firms by using Bayesian stochastic frontier approach

This paper examines the determinants of the total factor productivity (TFP) growth of Chinese renewable energy firms from 2011 to 2016, using a Bayesian stochastic frontier approach. Employing the “Bauer–Kumbhakar” decomposition method, the TFP growth is decomposed into the technology part and the market part. The empirical results reveal that the TFP improvement of Chinese renewable energy firms is mainly due to technical progress, followed by technical efficiency change. With regard to the market part, the misallocation of production factors has hindered the TFP growth. Our findings also indicate that only for large firms, the TFP growth can benefit from the scale economy effect. Compared with non‐state‐owned firms, state‐owned firms suffer much lower allocative efficiency.     

Openness and growth: The long shadow of the Berlin Wall

The question whether international openness causes higher domestic growth has been subject to intense discussions in the empirical growth literature. This paper addresses the issue in the context of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. We analyze whether the slow convergence in per capita incomes between East and West Germany and the lower international openness of East Germany are linked. We address the endogeneity of openness by adapting the methodology proposed by Frankel and Romer (1999) to a panel framework. We instrument openness with time-invariant exogenous geographic variables and time-varying exogenous policy variables. We also distinguish the impact of different channels of integration. Our paper has three main findings. First, geographic variables have a significant impact on regional openness. Second, controlling for geography, East German states are less integrated into international markets along all dimensions of integration considered. Third, the degree of openness for trade has a positive impact on regional income per capita.     

中美日三国经济增长质量比较:基于技术进步的角度

本文通过构造一个包含资本质量的柯布-道格拉斯形式的总量生产函数,对中美日三国1980—2007年的经济增长质量进行了详细的分析。分析结果表明,在整个考察期内,不同要素对于不同国家的经济发展所发挥的作用是不同的。但是,从总体上来看,全要素生产率的发展在三个国家的经济发展过程中均占据了非常重要的地位。同时,体现在资本质量上的技术进步对于不同国家则有不同的影响。尤其是对于日本经济而言,资本质量对日本经济发展发挥了关键性的作用,日本经济的资本质量状况长期阻碍了日本经济的发展,这一点能够为日本经济自20世纪90年代以来的长期低迷提供一种可能的解释。为了进一步分析三国的技术进步与经济增长之间的关系,本文同时又将整个考察期划分为三个子时期,并对三个子时期内不同要素对各个国家的经济发展贡献程度进行了考察,分析结果进一步确认了前面的结论。     

我国高等教育生产率增长、技术进步与效率变化

本文运用Malmquist指数对2003—2008年我国31个省、市、自治区高等教育的生产率变化情况进行分析,然后将其分解为技术进步与效率变化分析生产率变化的动力来源以及各地区的差异,并进一步对高等教育规模扩张与技术进步之间的关系进行研究。研究结果表明:我国高等教育生产率指数显示波动性上升趋势,且主要动力来源于技术进步;高等教育生产率的增长呈现出较大的地区差异性;高等教育的规模扩张与技术进步之间存在显著的负相关关系,当前的技术水平显然不能满足高校的需求。最后针对高等教育生产率变动的特征对高等教育的未来发展提出几点政策建议。     

技术效率、技术进步与中国农业全要素生产率的提高——基于国际比较的实证分析

文章运用DEA方法测算了包括中国在内的20个人均土地资源较少的国家以及美国、澳大利亚和新西兰3个新大陆国家1961-2005年间的农业技术效率、技术进步及Malmquist生产率指数。实证结果显示:20世纪60年代以来,即使同样在人均土地资源较少的条件下,发达国家的农业全要素生产率的增长仍然快于发展中国家;在过去四十多年里,中国农业全要素生产率的提高同土地以及劳动等农业资源的配置效率有紧密关系,值得注意的是,中国农业土地要素存在过量投入的情况,这或许与中国土地制度没有完全市场化有直接关系。     

Innovation,competition and productivity

We investigate the drivers of firm‐level productivity in catching‐up economies by jointly estimating its relationship to innovation and competition using data from the EBRD‐WB Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The findings confirm an inverted‐U shaped impact of competition on R&D. Both competition and innovation have a simultaneous positive effect on labour productivity in terms of either sales or value added per employee, as does a high share of university graduates and foreign ownership. Further positive impacts come from firm size, exports or population density. Innovation and foreign ownership appear to be the strongest drivers of multifactor productivity.     

Government interventions and productivity growth

This article investigates the impact of government industrial policy and trade protection of the manufacturing sector in Korea. Empirical results are provided, using four-period panel data for the years 1963 through 1983, for thirty-eight Korean industries in which trade protection reduced growth rates of labor productivity and total factor productivity, while industrial policies, such as tax incentives and subsidized credit, were not correlated with total factor productivity growth in the promoted sectors. The evidence thus implies that less government intervention in trade is linked to higher productivity growth.