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?     

中国服务业全要素生产率增长的实证分析

本文采用非参数Malmquist指数方法实证分析了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。结果表明,1990-2003年中国服务业全要素生产率的平均增长率为0.12%,主要原因是技术进步水平的提高,但技术效率下降产生的负面影响也不可忽视,不同时期技术效率和技术进步对中国服务业全要素生产率增长的贡献存在一定差异;同时,东中西部地区之间和地区内部服务业全要素生产率的增长率也存在显著差异,主要原因是技术进步水平不同。     

Road to productivity: Effects of roads on total factor productivity in Indian manufacturing

A denser road network lowers transport costs and stimulates manufacturing total factor productivity (TFP). The placement of roads, however, is likely to be non-random. For identification, we exploit cross-state variation in the strength of centre-state partisan alignment that asymmetrically affects road building in aligned states. Using panel data on manufacturing establishments in India from 1998 to 2012, we find that, a 1% increase in road density raises value-added TFP by about 0.25%, on average. A closer examination reveals that the effect varies by plant characteristics and road type. Younger establishments are more likely to gain from a denser road network with highways playing a prominent role. The results are robust to imperfections in the instrument and to other sensitivity checks.     

Econometric estimation of a variable rate of depreciation of the capital stock

Measuring the capital stock is crucial in some fields of economic research. Capital stock is not observable, though, and its estimation requires the knowledge of its rate of depreciation. In most cases, econometric regressions are not used for this task. However, this methodology could be used to estimate capital stock values which are consistent with the technology of the economy. If we assume that the depreciation rate is not constant, its estimation poses some additional technical difficulties. In this paper we suggest a method to estimate a variable rate of depreciation which is shown to have wide empirical applicability and some computational advantages. Also, this method is easily implementable in standard packages by means of NLS or ML. The formalization of this method, and empirical evidence and simulation exercises based on its implementation are presented.First version received: October 2002/Final version received: May 2004All correspondence to José A. Hernandez. We would like to thank to the University of Las Palmas project uni2002/14 for financial support and two anonymous referees for helpful comments.     

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.     

The distributional effects of selection and capital accumulation on firm productivity under imperfect capital markets

In this evolutionary model, random shocks create differences in the rate of return on capital, while individual saving and investment behavior can reduce these differences over time. Firms with either low total factor productivity (TFP) or a low average return on capital are selected for exit, and new firms enter to take their place. As would be expected, a higher turnover rate improves TFP and reduces its variation. While we show that a higher turnover rate would result in a more positively skewed TFP distribution if exit selection is based directly upon TFP, we find that when we select firms for exit based on their average product of capital, the marginal impact of a higher turnover rate is to more negatively skew the TFP distribution. Overall, our simulations highlight the importance of considering the role selection may play in shaping the distribution of productivity when econometricians seek estimates of firm inefficiency.

Do R&D activities matter for productivity? A regional spatial approach assessing the role of human and social capital

We estimate the long-run effects of Research and Development (R&D) activities on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) across the Spanish regions during 1980–2007. We use panel data cointegration methods and control for spatial externalities linked to human and social capital. Our empirical results, robust to different specifications and additional control variables, show a significant direct effect of public R&D capital on productivity. No significant results are observed for private R&D capital. In contrast, the effect of patents is highly significant but proves to be small. Furthermore, Spain has greatly benefited from importing technology from leading countries. Spatial spillovers are crucial in explaining long-run productivity for the case of Spain. Human and social capital exert direct positive impacts, however, their effects are geographically bounded and negative spatial spillovers offset direct outcomes. Overall TFP increases when neighbouring territories engage in R&D activities.     

Technical change and total factor productivity growth for Swedish manufacturing and service industries

This article presents alternative specifications of the production functions of a large panel of Swedish firms for the period 1992 to 2000. The period can be characterized as a transition when long-run productivity growth in the Swedish economy improved from being among the weakest to one of the strongest within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In order to present a detailed exploration of this dramatic change, the time trend and general index models are applied to estimate Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth, rate of technical change and returns to scale. The models are extended to allow for firm specific as well as time-varying technical change. The parametric TFP measures are also compared with the nonparametric Solow residual, and several hypotheses are tested to explain the growth patterns in the Swedish economy. It is found that the improved growth rate, initially starting in large exporting manufacturing firms, after a deep economic crisis at the beginning of the 1990s, spilled over to the rest of the economy, both manufacturing and services.     

Total factor productivity convergence across the Kazakh regions

This article examines total factor productivity (TFP) convergence across the regions of Kazakhstan over the period of 1997–2013. Using a growth accounting methodology we found that the average level of TFP fell by almost 40% over the period under consideration. Several panel unit root tests confirm that the whole set of Kazakh regions and the group of non-oil regions converged in terms of TFP, while the group of oil-rich regions diverged. This result explains sigma-divergence of the GRP per capita across the regions of Kazakhstan by divergence in capital intensity.     

Generation and distribution of the total factor productivity gains in US industries

This study estimates productivity gains and their distribution among inputs and outputs for 63 American industries over the period 1987–2012. Using the traditional surplus accounting method, the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth rates are divided into their price change components in order to determine the stakeholders who do or do not receive price advantages.

An initial analysis showed that TFP of US industries increased at an average trend of 0.8% and established that remunerations to employees and firms’ profitability constituted 49% and 39%, respectively, of the accumulated economic surplus from the productivity gains. Suppliers of intermediate inputs retained 12.1% of the surplus. Finally, customers, equipment and structure providers were the losers in the distribution of economic surplus via, respectively, a significant growth of relative final demand prices and a substantial price decrease of these assets.

A second step analysis underlined that industries with high TFP growth rates mainly benefited customers and firms via output price decreases and profitability improvements while industries with low or negative TFP changes hurt customers through significant output price increases. The sectoral level analysis also showed that employees’ remunerations depend only slightly on productivity gains produced within their industrial sectors.     

Does the new digital infrastructure improve total factor productivity?

Improving total factor productivity (TFP) is essential to achieving high-quality and sustainable economic development. The existing literature mainly focuses on the impact of traditional infrastructure on TFP but generally ignores the role of new digital infrastructure in TFP and does not test impact mechanisms and whether there is heterogeneity in effects. Using panel data of 30 regions in China from 2006 to 2017, this paper analyzes the impact of new digital infrastructure on TFP and its mechanisms. The results are as follows: (1) New digital infrastructure can significantly improve regional TFP. After the robustness test, the results still support the findings. (2) New digital infrastructure can promote technological innovation, optimize factor allocation, and achieve economies of scale, thus improving TFP. (3) Further analysis shows that the positive effect of new digital infrastructure on TFP shows significant heterogeneity. In regions with high economic development levels, high research and development ( R&D) levels, and high traditional infrastructure development levels, the positive effect of new digital infrastructure on TFP is more obvious. These findings not only enrich the literature on digital infrastructure and economic growth but also serve as a reference for governmental departments as they optimize their strategy for developing digital infrastructure and realizing sustainable economic development.     

'Total factor productivity vs. realism' revisited: the case of the South Korean steel industry

This paper presents key features of the development of the SouthKorean steel industry through the critical examination of anarticle by Truett and Truett. Despite their claim to exhibit‘realism’ by use of a translog cost function, theirmethodology has strong affinities with the methods of measuringtotal factor productivity growth, which have long been knownas invalid but continue to be applied not least to the experienceof East Asian countries. It will be argued that the theoreticaland empirical flaws involved with these methods invalidate theirresults and corresponding policy implications. Above all, byshowing that the assumptions for their calculation do not holdin terms of the economic conditions of the industry, the paperpoints to a different understanding of ‘realism’than that conceived by and for their study.     

Measuring capital services by energy use: an empirical comparative study

From an engineering perspective, the service that a capital good provides is energy conversion – that is, the physical ‘work’ done by a machine. A capital good’s service can thus be measured directly by the energy consumed in production. We show important empirical advantages of this approximation over traditional measures. The empirical application reveals that this approach avoids a number of conceptual problems of the latter. Furthermore, this measure captures the utilization of the capital stock more accurately as it is more sensitive to fluctuations in economic activity. With a growth accounting exercise, it is shown that the differences between the new and the traditional measures are important for empirical work. Using the new measure yields significantly different results. Especially in times of global recession it provides higher and more feasible total factor productivity growth rates.     

Analysis on total factor productivity of Chinese provincial economy

This paper applies the nonparametric DEA-Malmquist index approach to estimate total factor productivity growth, efficiency change and the rate of technological progress from 1979 to 2003. This is done to conduct analysis on the total factor productivity of China’s provincial economy. Analysis on the evolution of distribution dynamics of relative labor productivity, relative total factor productivity, relative efficiency and relative technological progress is done by using kernel density estimation for the period from 1979 to 2003 in 29 provinces of China. Our analysis indicates that disparities of provincial economic growth are large and have been increasing owing to the relatively large and increasing disparities of total factor productivity growth especially the rate of technological progress. __________ Translated from The Journal of World Economy (世界经6D4E;), 2005, (5) (in Chinese)     

Human capital,innovation and productivity in Colombian enterprises: a structural approach using instrumental variables

ABSTRACT

In this paper we explore the R&D–innovation–productivity linkage for the Colombian manufacturing industry, paying special attention to the role of human capital. Using data from two firm-level surveys, the Survey of Development and Technological Innovation (EDIT) and the Annual Manufacturing Survey (EAM), we extend the model of Crépon, Duguet, and Mairesse [1998. ‘Research, Innovation and Productivity: An Econometric Analysis at the Firm Level.’ Economics of Innovation and New Technology 7 (2): 115–158] (hereafter CDM) by including human capital at the investment decision stage. We implement an instrumental variable methodology to correct the potential endogeneity that may arise with the inclusion of human capital. Our results suggest that human capital has a causal effect on research and development (R&D) investment decisions, the innovation behavior of the firm, and increases the labor productivity of the firm. The conclusions highlight the relevance of human capital in the surrounding literature which stands in contrast to prior work that has not included this variable.     

The impact of product subsidies on plant-level total factor productivity in Britain, 1997–2014

The United Kingdom’s imminent departure from the European Union provides the opportunity for a more selective industrial strategy. This paper therefore analyses the effect of product subsidies on productivity in British manufacturing plants between 1997 and 2014 in order to provide evidence on the desirability of extending their use. The results suggest that low rates of subsidization had either a positive or no effect but higher rates had a negative effect on total factor productivity in some sectors. This implies that increasing the generosity of subsidies does not offer a means of improving the UK’s productivity performance.     

中国金融发展与全要素生产率关系研究

运用柯布一道格拉斯生产函数和增长核算法计算出1978—2006年全国的TFP,并选取FIR作为金融发展指标,对二者进行单位根检验、协整检验,继而运用误差修正模型得出FIR与TFP的回归方程。实证结果显示,长期全要素生产率存在一定的自回归调整,金融发展的短期波动也起到了显著的调整作用。     

Firm heterogeneity in sources of total factor productivity growth for Japanese manufacturing firms

We investigate firm heterogeneity in productivity sources across technology sectors for Japanese manufacturers. Firm heterogeneity in productivity sources conveys more information about firm-specific differences in productivity. In this regard, large firms are more productive, largely because they are more innovative, despite being slow to catch up during booms or operating at a less-than-efficient scale. We find that the beneficial impact of exports on productivity is most evident when firms become exporters, and intrafirm trade causes enough inefficiency to offset the salutary effects of trade after a certain threshold. Notably, firm heterogeneity in productivity varies considerably across the technology sectors.     

Total factor productivity growth in Central and Eastern Europe before,during and after the global financial crisis

This article presents growth accounting results for 11 EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe for the years 1996–2016. Its contributions include the estimation of new capital stock series and adjustment for the utilisation of capital stock. Before the crisis, growth in total factor productivity (TFP) was the main contributor to output growth in Slovenia, Hungary and Slovakia, while capital deepening was more important in the Czech Republic, Croatia and Poland. During the global financial crisis the contributions of TFP and capital growth differed markedly across the countries, reflecting the very diverse dynamics of the crisis. After the crisis the contribution of TFP growth has been negligible in all of the sample countries coinciding with generally weak output growth. The results are generally robust to changes in estimation methods and parametrisations, but some assumptions regarding the construction of the capital stock series are critical for the results.     

Dynamics of agglomeration,accessibility, and total factor productivity: evidence from Japanese regions

With Japan’s declining population, improving productivity is important to achieving continuous regional economic growth. This study focuses on the regional effects of population agglomeration and accessibility on total factor productivity (TFP). Empirical analysis shows that population agglomeration contributed to TFP growth, most significantly in the Greater Tokyo area. The interaction (flow) of people was examined and the importance of high-speed transportation network for TFP growth was clarified as the effect of accessibility on TFP growth. Population agglomeration and the development of transportation network are thus important strategies for growing regional economies.