General Equilibrium Analysis of International TFP Growth Rates

The paper presents a study of the total factor productivity (TFP) performance among developed countries between 1985 and 1990. The analysis includes the three large economies: the US, Japan and Europe. A general equilibrium model of these economies is used to estimate TFP growth at the sectoral and at the aggregate levels. The model is based on the fundamentals of the economies and employs only data on input-output flows, factor inputs across sectors, consumption and trade patterns and endowments. Prices are endogenous in the model. They are obtained as shadow prices from the model's linear program and then used to measure TFP growth and decompose it in a technical change effect, a demand effect and a terms-of-trade effect. The technical change effect is highly correlated with the conventional Solow residual measure. This result lends support to the standard measure of technological change.     

Growth in total factor productivity and links among firms

In this paper we study the relevance of links among firms in explaining the mean and the auto-correlation property of the aggregate total factor productivity rate of growth (Solow residual). Our approach relies on the interaction between idiosyncratic shocks of firms and the network structure of firms. We analytically study this phenomenon using the adjacency matrix of a complete network and we present a simulation with more general random adjacency matrices. We also check empirically, using Italian data, the relationship between the network structure and the Solow residual. In particular, in the empirical part, we find two main results: firstly, the relationship between the Solow residual and the measure of connectivity of firms is positive, in accordance with the analytical results. Secondly, we find that the measure of connectivity is pro-cyclical with the annual growth rate of industrial production.     

全要素生产率中的加成定价与规模报酬效应

研究目标：考察经典方法估计全要素生产率时是否因加成定价或规模报酬效应而出现估计偏差。研究方法：基于放松完全竞争和规模报酬不变假设的增长核算框架估计全要素生产率,并在分别估计加成定价率和规模报酬率基础上对古典索洛余值进行分解。研究发现：加成定价效应是造成古典索洛余值与全要素生产率偏差的重要原因;富有弹性的劳动力市场可以降低全要素生产率受到经济冲击的影响。研究创新：基于扩展后的增长核算框架估计了中国、韩国、日本和美国的全要素生产率,分析古典索洛余值是否存在估计偏差以及偏差的主要来源。研究价值：分离新古典索洛余值中的加成定价和规模效应,可以有效降低经验研究中全要素生产率的估计偏差。     

Imperfect Competition and Total Factor Productivity Growth

This article examines the role of imperfect competition in determining total factor productivity growth (TFPG) by bringing together a New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) model and the TFPG model of Good, Nadiri and Sickles (1999). Application of the integrated model to 1973–1992 data from 29 food processing industries revealed that, overall, changes in markups, economies of scale, and demand growth contributed positively to TFPG while the disembodied technical change was a negative contributor. Furthermore, the factors underlying the TFPG estimates are interactive and their net effects are starkly different from the conventional Solow (1957) residual TFPG measures, underscoring the need to account for imperfect competition, returns to scale, and demand growth in analyses of this type.     

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.     

The Solow residual,Domar aggregation,and inefficiency: a synthesis of TFP measures

We consolidate and interrelate the four main approaches to the measurement and decomposition of total factor productivity growth, namely Solow’s residual analysis, the index number approach, Data Envelopment Analysis, and Domar aggregation. Two new results link the general technology TFP growth measure to the industry Solow residuals and inefficiency.     

基于时变参数的我国全要素生产率估计

本文应用时变参数状态空间模型,利用1953~2005年中国宏观经济数据,估计了样本区间内我国的全要素生产率(TFP),并与传统的索洛残差方法的计算结果进行了比较。分析表明:时变参数方法得到的TFP增长率计算结果由于不包含方程误差,比索洛残差方法的结果精确;TFP增长率的变化趋势,基本和GDP的增长趋势相同,只是有所滞后,滞后期一般为一年。     

Factor Utilization and Adjusted Productivity Estimates for the UK*

This paper derives series for capital utilization, labour effort and total factor productivity (TFP) for the UK from a general equilibrium model with variable utilization and labour adjustment costs. Capital utilization tracks survey‐based measures closely, but persistent movements in total hours worked mean our labour effort series is not as highly correlated with its comparators. Our estimated TFP series is less cyclical than the traditional Solow residual, although a weighted average of capital utilization and labour effort – aggregate factor utilization – and the Solow residual are not closely related.     

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.     

Benchmarking and industry performance

In this paper I interrelate productivity analysis and the theory of industrial organization. A proposition proves that an industrial organization is efficient if and only if it is supportable in the entry-proofness sense. Industrial performance is decomposed in efficiency and technical change terms as well as an industrial organization component. The performance measure is shown to be consistent with the Solow residual and Malmquist productivity indices for its components are provided.     

Debreu’s coefficient of resource utilization, the Solow residual, and TFP: the connection by Leontief preferences

Debreu’s coefficient of resource utilization is freed from individual data requirements. The procedure is shown to be equivalent to the imposition of Leontief preferences. The rate of growth of the modified Debreu coefficient and the Solow residual are shown to add up to TFP growth. This decomposition is the neoclassical counterpart to the frontier analytic decomposition of productivity growth into technical change and efficiency change. The terms can now be broken down by sector as well as by factor input.

中国农业生产率的变动与分解分析:1978～2004年--基于非参数的HMB生产率指数的实证研究

本文使用非参数的HMB生产率指数方法,考察了中国农村改革以来农业全要素生产率（TFP）的变动趋势,并把TFP的增长构成分解为技术进步、技术效率变化、规模效应和投入产出混合效应四个部分。结果表明,改革开放以来我国农业TFP的增长主要是由技术进步推动的,技术效率的下降对TFP的增长造成了不利影响,而规模效应和混合效应影响较弱。文章还指出中国农业的育种能力和生物技术的发展是农业技术进步的决定力量。     

私募股权、公开上市和生产效率

本文以公司在资本市场上公开上市为背景,以是否具有私募股权融资背景为标准,选取了384家上市公司为研究样本,使用索洛余值法、随机前沿分析模型等方法,实证分析私募股权投资对改善企业生产效率的作用。研究结果发现,无论是否有私募股权投资,企业上市后的全要素生产率均高于上市前;有私募股权投资的企业全要素生产率在上市前要低于无私募股权投资的企业,但是上市后则超过了无私募股权投资的企业。     

Productivity,Technology and Economic Growth: What is the Relationship?

The relationship between productivity, technology and economic growth has been debated extensively in the endogenous growth, growth accounting, New Economy and policy literature. This paper briefly surveys the literature on total factor productivity (TFP) calculations – the various techniques and problems associated with it. We argue that TFP is not a measure of technological change and only under ideal conditions does it measure the supernormal profits associated with technological change. The critical driving force of economic growth is not the super normal profits that technological change generates but rather the continuous creation of opportunities for further technological development. Six illustrations of when TFP fails to correctly measure these super normal profits are provided. A version Carlaw and Lipsey's (2003b) model of endogenous general purpose technology‐ driven growth is then utilized to make some progress toward answering Prescott's (1998) call for a theory of TFP. The model is used to simulate artificial data and connect theoretical assumptions of returns to scale and resource costs to the conditions under which TFP miss‐measures the actual growth of technological knowledge.     

土地财政、城市产出效率与全要素生产率增长差异

在国有土地使用权大量出让、财政收入快速增长的背景下,考量城市面积的快速扩张对经济增长的贡献及建设用地利用效率的高低具有重要意义。土地是经济发展中的重要生产要素,由于土地位置的固定性使得不同地区采取不同的土地财政政策,这致使城市产出效率和全要素生产率增长存在较大差异。因此对Solow模型进行扩展,使用我国1999—2009年数据,运用Malmquist指数分析方法对城市产出效率进行了实证研究。结果表明:全国各省市全要素生产率虽都呈现出上涨的趋势,但每个省市都存在土地使用效率不高问题。通过区域划分估算全国各省市全要素生产率增长情况,并使用分位数回归法分析各地区不同的增长方式,并针对土地财政、城市产出效率与全要素生产率增长差异间存在的问题提出政策建议。     

Estimating Capital Inputs for Productivity Measurement: An Overview of U.S. Concepts and Methods

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes measures of multifactor productivity, which are patterned after the Solow residual. Inputs of capital must be aggregated with inputs of labor. The theory requires a measure of the capital service flow, a rather abstract notion which is rarely observable. The BLS procedures for capital measurement are summarized, and the rationale for these procedures is explored. Implicit measures of capital services are derived from data on property income and data on historical investments which are detailed as to type of asset.     

MEASUREMENT AND DETERMINANTS OF MULTI-FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY: A SURVEY OF LITERATURE

This paper surveys and synthesizes fast-growing literature on the measurement and determinants of multi-factor productivity (MFP). We identify three strands of the literature to measure MFP: the first is growth accounting, which decomposes observed economic growth into the contribution of factor inputs and technological change, called the Solow Residual; the second is index number methods, accompanied by frontier techniques; the third is growth regressions and econometric methods used to estimate productivity across countries and regions. We keep our focus on assessing the major strengths and weaknesses of commonly used methods for MFP measurement and categorize existing literature on the determinants of MFP growth into macroeconomic and institutional factors. We attempt to provide a reassessment and thematic survey of literature on the drivers of aggregate productivity, enabling policymakers to formulate effective economic policy.     

中国高技术产业的全要素生产率及产业比较

基于2001～2007年中国5个高技术产业的细分行业的面板数据,运用Malmquist指数构建一个三投入三产出的模型,分别测算了高技术产业及其细分行业的全要素生产率。结果显示,5个细分行业全要素生产率的增长率差异较大,而且整个高技术产业的全要素生产率的增长率不稳定,主要原因是技术进步因素发生波动。     

Estimating total factor productivity using parametric,nonstochastic cost frontiers

The standard approach to measuring total factor productivity can produce biased results if the data are drawn from a market that is not in long-run competititve equilibrium. This article presents a methodology for adjusting data on output and variable inputs to the values they would have if the market were in long-run competitive equilibrium, given the fixed inputs and input prices. The method uses nonstochastic, parametric translog cost frontiers and calculates equilibrium values for output and varible inputs using an iterative linear programming procedure. Data from seven industries for 1970–1979 are used to illustrate the methodology.The editor for this paper was William H. Greene.     

基于随机误差分析的索洛模型改进及其在中国的实证分析

通过对索洛余值计算方式的改进,在原先定义的生产函数下增添了误差项,将得出后的技术进步率进行方差分析,并将产出、要素投入、技术进步以外的一些难以把握的因素,如制度的变动、宏观调控政策的变化的差异等用生产函数中一个偏差项来代替,使得中国技术进步的结果更贴近事实。并通过对索洛余值的实证分析,总结出近些年中国技术进步的发展特点及发展速度。