Sources of productivity growth: Evidence from the Mexican manufacturing sector

We study labor and total factor productivity in the Mexican manufacturing sector for the 1994 to 2002 period. Labor productivity increased at an annual rate of 3 percent, while total factor productivity has null or negative growth depending on the methodology used. We conduct several robustness checks by providing alternatives measures of productivity growth. Moreover, we investigate the sources of productivity growth by studying the impact of international trade, investment, quality of the labor force and labor market institutions.     

The effect of trade on productivity growth and the demand for skilled workers in Canada

We use an input–output model to examine the effect of trade integration on productivity growth and the demand for skilled workers in Canada for the period 1981–1997. We find that trade integration has a positive effect on both labour productivity and total factor productivity. Labour productivity and total factor productivity grew faster in export and import industries than in the total business sector over this period, and this productivity growth gap has widened over time. Canada is found to have a comparative advantage in capital- and natural-resource-intensive industries, although it has declined over time. We find that trade integration has little effect on the demand for skilled and unskilled workers in Canada.     

资本市场扭曲对城市全要素生产率的影响研究——基于规模和技术视角

在创新驱动发展的背景下,资本市场化改革有助于提高资本配置效率,进而对全要素生产率产生影响。基于中国城市相关数据,利用生产函数法和随机前沿估计法测算资本市场扭曲,并利用DEA-Malmquist指数法对城市全要素生产率进行分解,从规模和技术视角切入,实证分析了资本市场扭曲对城市规模效率、技术效率和全要素生产率的影响。研究发现,资本市场扭曲增加对规模效率具有正向影响,对技术效率和全要生产率具有负向影响。反事实分析结果显示,当消除资本市场扭曲后,从全国层面看,规模效率平均下降0.54%,技术效率平均上升4.25%,全要素生产率平均上升1.54%。     

Estimation of trade and domestic distortions: an application to world agriculture

The world’s nations often produce commodities for which they have no apparent comparative advantage, and do so with techniques that are not particularly efficient by world standards. These inefficiencies may arise from various forms of trade and domestic distortions, as described in Chau et al., Int Econ Rev 44:1079–1095, (2003). We estimate these distortions for 33 countries of the world using a newly compiled data set. We find that domestic distortions tend to be slightly more important than trade distortions. For the average country, revenues in the agricultural sector would be 26% higher if domestic distortions were eliminated, but 21% higher if trade distortions were eliminated. Our measures of trade and domestic distortions across countries provide a complement to measures of protectionism such as producer subsidy equivalents.     

European integration,productivity growth and real convergence: Evidence from the new member states

We estimate the determinants of labor productivity growth in 8 new European Union (EU) member states that joined the Union in 2004. Our focus is on the impact of globalization and EU integration efforts on labor productivity growth. Previous studies test the impact of trade using either exports or trade openness. We also test the impact of imports separately on labor productivity growth. Using panel data for 1995–2006 period, we find that globalization has mixed effects. FDI and exports improve productivity, but imports hurt it. Regarding domestic variables, we find that human capital is the most important source of labor productivity growth in the new member states. There is also considerable adjustment of labor productivity towards EU15 levels, indicating significant “catching up” and hence real convergence. Policy implications of the findings are also discussed.     

Time allocation and home production technology

This paper studies the effect of the relative productivity between the market sector and the home sector on time allocation. A novelty of the paper is to jointly estimate home productivity and the elasticity of substitution between market goods and home hours, which is accomplished through structural estimation based on income-decile level data. With a high elasticity of substitution and a slower growth rate of productivity in the home sector relative to the market sector, the model can produce key data patterns of time allocation in both the cross sections and time series. Quantitatively, relative productivity can account for 32% of the variation in market hours and 18% of the variation in home hours.     

Productivity, returns to scale and product differentiation in the retail trade industry: an empirical analysis using Japanese firm-level data

This paper examines productivity and returns to scale under the assumption of monopolistic competition using Japanese firm-level data. Although differentiating products (services) is considered important in firms?? strategies and productivity growth, it has not been sufficiently investigated in previous studies. In this paper, we study this issue in two retail trade industries, department stores and supermarkets, applying the model of Melitz (2000). Our results indicate that the standard production function is not relevant to estimate productivity in imperfectly competitive markets. It also suggests that the market structure should be carefully considered in productivity analysis. In addition, product differentiation has a positive effect on firms?? revenue for the supermarkets. Furthermore, the retail trade industries possibly follow increasing returns to scale. Thus, policy measures that promote economies of scale and product differentiation should contribute to further growth in these industries. In addition, the results indicate that the regulatory reform of the retail trade industry in 2000 increased the gap between winners and losers in terms of productivity.     

Globalisation,industrial efficiency and technological sovereignty: Evidence from Brazil

Since the end of the 1980s the Brazilian economy has become increasingly exposed to the forces of globalisation. As trade and market liberalisation have progressed, so the industrial sector has been obliged to undergo a substantial transformation. This paper examines the nature of this transformation focusing on three key themes: productive efficiency, industrial restructuring and technological sovereignty. While, at least in terms of productivity and cost competitiveness, efficiency has undoubtedly increased, the evidence concerning the impact of liberalisation on technological sovereignty is somewhat more ambiguous. However, it is clear that, in many instances the reliance of the Brazilian industrial sector on foreign sources of technology has markedly increased. This, in turn raises a number of troubling issues, not least the ability of emerging market economies to hold on to established areas of technological competence as globalisation continues to unfold.     

Transport costs, intermediate goods, and localized growth

This paper presents a dynamic, two-regional, general equilibrium model in which interregional production and trade patterns are endogenously determined. Localized growth stems from the geographical concentration of an industrial sector exhibiting permanent productivity increases. Geographical concentration is a result of the interaction between local market size and local competition in the differentiated input industry. Regional factor endowment with an immobile factor is decisive for the long-run specialization, trade and growth patterns between the regions if large endowment differences prevail. With equal-sized regions, multiple equilibria exist. Furthermore, we argue that integration might lead to increasing regional concentration of production and innovation.     

Structural change accounting with labor market distortions

This paper quantifies the relative importance of sectoral productivity and labor market distortions for structural change in the U.S., India, Mexico and Brazil between 1960 and 2005. I use census data to compute human capital by sector and infer labor market distortions as sectoral gaps in wage per unit of human capital. I incorporate these distortions into a model of structural change, and calibrate the model to reproduce the time paths of sectoral shares of labor and value added for each country. Counterfactuals reveal that (1) TFP growth in agriculture drives most of the decline in its share of labor; (2) the role of labor market distortions is limited.     

Productivity measurement from a deficient data base: An empirical study of Kenya's manufacturing sector

The study measures productivity growth in Kenya's manufacturing sector. Given several deficiencies of the data typical for developing countries, it focuses on methods to overcome such weaknesses of the data. The computation of total factor productivity growth uses a modified version of neoclassical growth accounting à la Solow and Denison. Data uncertainties are diminished through sensitivity analysis and comparison with some international evidence. In a second approach, labor productivity growth is broken down into two components: structural change in favor of more productive industries, and productivity increase at industry level.The refereeing process of this paper was handled through Edward Kokkelenberg. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 meetings of the European Economic Association in Augsburg. The author acknowledges helpful comments from two anonymous referees of this Journal. The usual waiver applies.     

Multifactor productivity and its determinants: an empirical analysis for Mexican manufacturing

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we estimate production functions for the Mexican manufacturing sector and for 14 comprehensive groups, allowing us to construct various measures of multifactor productivity. Second, we analyse some of the determinants of productivity growth. We find that, on the one hand, there is a positive relationship between market concentration and technology adoption; on the other hand, both technology adoption and human capital promote productivity, whilst market concentration exerts a negative influence on it. Our results suggest that, once controlling for the effect on technology adoption, more concentration impacts negatively productivity growth.     

Temporary contracts and labour productivity in Spain: a sectoral analysis

This paper analyses the impact on sectoral labour productivity growth caused by the increase in the use of temporary employment contracts in Spain over the period 1987–2000. With this aim, we estimate a production function model in which effective labour is represented by the shares of permanent, temporary and self-employed workers. Results suggest that productivity growth has been slowed down by the use of temporary contracts for regular jobs and that this has not been affected by compositional changes in activity over the period. However, this effect has only been detected in the manufacturing and energy sector, in contrast to low-technology low-human capital sectors like construction and hospitality.     

劳动力市场灵活性对FDI区位分布的影响——基于中国31省市数据的实证经验

本文系统地分析了劳动力市场灵活性因素对中国1999～2009年间31个省市地区FDI流入和分布的影响。模型提出了劳动力市场灵活性通过生产率渠道和成本渠道影响地区FDI流入的假设。其次,通过固定效应回归方法和GMM方法估计劳动力市场灵活性、国际贸易等因素对地区FDI流入和分布的影响。结果表明,劳动力市场灵活性总体上提高了地区FDI流入,并且劳动力市场灵活性通过提高生产率和降低成本促进了FDI流入。此外,劳动力市场灵活性以递减的速率提高地区FDI流入。     

中国数字经济规模测度与生产率分析

研究目标:考察中国数字经济的规模与结构特征,分析数字要素对中国经济生产率的影响及其变化趋势。研究方法:基于投入产出序列表数据,结合数字经济内涵、信息经济理论及增长核算方法,建立数字经济规模和全要素生产率测算框架进行分析。研究发现:近年来,中国数字经济规模年均实际增长率高达11.24%,已经成为支撑经济增长的重要推动力量;中国数字经济结构不断变化,数字融合部门增速高于数字替代部门,但二者均低于数字基础部门的增速;中国经济增速逐步放缓,而全要素生产率总体上行,数字资本在经济增长中的份额呈上升趋势。研究创新:提出包含三大效应的数字经济测度理论,将数字经济划分为基础部门、融合部门和替代部门,建立数字经济核算的方法框架,关注并考察了数字要素的增长效应。研究价值:有助于完善数字经济测度理论,为推动中国经济高质量发展提供依据。     

LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY CHANGES AND WORKING TIME: THE CASE OF GREECE

In terms of the annual hours worked per employee, Greece ranks first among EU-15 countries and second among OECD countries. In this context, the austerity measures it adopted (as suggested by the EU and IMF) imply, among other things, a reduction in the over-hours. If such reductions were not to be accompanied by increases in labour productivity, output would be reduced considerably. This paper therefore addresses the question: “What change in sectoral labour productivity levels would have been required to deliver the actual change in final demands in Greece between 1995 and 2005, if working hours in each sector had been reduced to their EU averages?” In this framework, we develop a methodology for calculating labour productivity change by sector of economic activity in an input–output context. Next, we apply it to the Greek economy for the time period 1995–2005, the most recent period for which the required data are available. We find that the required productivity changes are the most substantial for the hotels and restaurants sector, followed by machinery manufacturing and the trade sectors.     

Dynamics of Trade Integration and Technological Convergence

The issue of the impact of trade on economic performance and labour markets has been intensively discussed in recent literature on trade liberalization and globalization, where the debate was mainly about identifying the relative impact of trade and technology. The bulk of the existing literature in this area employs, almost without exception, a static Heckscher-Ohlin framework that seems not to be a suitable tool for analysing the ongoing dynamics. This paper presents a dynamic multi-sectoral framework with heterogenous labour to explore the issue of trade liberalization and sectoral catching-up in productivity levels. The model is basically an input-output framework with Schumpeterian features; the latter are modelled as the impact of transitory rents that result from uneven productivity growth and technological catching-up upon the price and quantity systems of the trading economies. Relative productivity and wage rate dynamics across sectors determine the comparative costs and the dynamics of trade specialization. In the Appendix, the equilibrium solutions of the model are derived.     

Productivity change in a multisectoral economic system

We estimate productivity growth without recourse to data on factor input shares or prices. In the proposed model, the economy is represented by the Leontief input–output model, which is extended by the constraints of primary inputs. A Luenberger productivity indicator is proposed to estimate productivity change; this is then decomposed in a way that enables us to examine the contributions of individual production factors and individual commodities to productivity change. The results allow for the identification of inputs or outputs that are the drivers of the overall productivity change. Their contributions are then decomposed into efficiency change and technical change components. Using input–output tables of the US economy for the period 1977–2006, we show that technical progress has been the main source of productivity change. Technical progress was mostly driven by capital, whereas low-skilled labour contributed negatively.     

Mexico under NAFTA: a critical assessment

This paper assesses the evolution and performance of several key economic and social variables in Mexico following the passage of NAFTA. The evidence shows that under NAFTA Mexican trade and foreign direct investment inflows have risen at rapid rates, particularly in the export-oriented assembly-line sector. However, the evidence also suggests that it is hard to disentangle the effects of NAFTA from the other non-NAFTA factors such as demand in the U.S. in explaining the dynamism of the Mexican export sector (and economy). This has been attested by how the Mexican economy has been dragged into a severe recession over the past two years as a result of the relatively mild downturn in the U.S. business cycle.Insofar as employment growth, real wages in manufacturing, and productivity performance is concerned, the evidence presented indicates that the record has been lackluster at best and disastrous at worst. Manufacturing employment fell dramatically after the peso crisis, and remains stagnant. Real wages have plunged since the peso crisis and have yet to recover levels attained in the mid-1980s. In terms of productivity performance, no strong conclusions can be reached given the conflicting estimates in the extant literature. At best, the data show that productivity rose at healthy rates in the tradeable sector, but stagnated in the non-tradeable sector.Finally, the paper presents evidence which shows that both the functional and size distribution of income have become more skewed during the period of trade and investment liberalization (JEL 040,054).     

Productivity and Trade Orientation in UK Manufacturing*

We show that improvements in aggregate productivity in UK manufacturing during the first years after the implementation of the Euro, by the UK's main trading partners in Europe, are determined by both market share reallocation and within‐company productivity growth. Furthermore, we outline a structural methodology for estimating parameters of a production function linking the unobservable productivity to endogenous company‐level trade orientation, investment and exit decisions. This allows us to back out consistent and unbiased estimates of productivity dynamics by trade orientation of companies within four‐digit UK manufacturing industries using FAME data over the period 1994–2001. Our estimates of productivity dynamics indicate that improvements in aggregate productivity were mainly driven by market share reallocations away from inefficient and towards efficient exporting companies alongside productivity improvements within non‐exporting companies.