CDM 20 years after

ABSTRACT

In year 1998, the seminal paper Research Innovation and Productivity: An Econometric Analysis at the Firm Level was published in this journal. The empirical framework, following on ideas in the research of Zvi Griliches at the NBER and commonly labeled CDM (the acronym of the three authors’ names, Crépon, Duguet and Mairesse) is one of the most influential contributions in recent literature on economics of innovation. The original CDM paper and papers inspired by its framework have received hundreds of citations in the empirical innovation literature. Whether directly linked or not to the CDM framework, the flow of studies improving on and enlarging the scope and methods of the empirical literature on R&D, innovation and productivity is continuing. Some of them, for example, focus on financing innovation, innovation and employment, innovation and trade, competition, or intellectual property; some adopt a managerial perspective, while others prefer an innovation system approach in a Schumpeterian tradition, etc. This introduction to the special issue of EINT surveys a collection of 12 papers on the CDM model by 25 authors from eight countries. The papers take stock of the evolution of research based on the original CDM model launched 20 years ago, linking it to the previous literature, and proposing developments and generalizations of it in various dimensions.     

服务投入与中国农业劳动生产率的追赶进程--对中国农业劳动生产率阶段性特征的新解释

长期以来,中国农业劳动生产率严重滞后于国际先进水平。文章对我国农业劳动生产率相对于美国的追赶进程进行了分阶段的分析,基于增长核算框架着重分析了服务投入在其中所发挥的作用。研究发现,我国农业劳动生产率在1995－2003年期间对美国的追赶效应明显,但服务投入密度提高的贡献相对偏小。我国农业劳动生产率在2003－2009年期间对美国的追赶效应更加明显,但服务投入密度相对偏低的贡献反而拖累了追赶进程。服务投入的内部结构分析显示,我国农业服务投入的发展滞后基本上是全方位的。进一步提高我国农业劳动生产率,缩小与国际先进水平的发展差距,需要充分认识到服务投入的重要性。解决我国农业服务投入发展滞后的问题需要在农业金融、农业保险、农业营销、农业物流、农业“互联网＋”和农业机械融资租赁服务等方面予以改进。     

Human capital revisited: The role of experience and education when controlling for performance and cognitive skills

Human capital theory predicts that differences in wages arise because of differences in human capital. The latter can be accumulated in two ways: through experience and education. Using matched firm–worker data for the Ghanaian Manufacturing sector we first test whether changes in wages over the life cycle reflect changes in performance, following the methodology of Medoff and Abraham [Medoff, J.L., &; Abraham, K.G. (1980). Experience, Performance, and Earnings. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 95(4), 703-736; Medoff, J.L., &; Abraham, K.G. (1981). Are Those Paid More Really More Productive? The Case of Experience. Journal of Human Resources, 16(2), 186–216]. We find that wage–seniority profiles are independent of performance – a result that holds when controlling for firm fixed effects. Extending the analysis, we include a control for on-the-job-training and find that it does not attenuate the seniority profile, which is also at odds with human capital theory. We do find however that firm characteristics play an important role. Wage–seniority profiles are steeper in large firms, but performance profiles are not, suggesting that the results from Medoff and Abraham are specific to large firms. We then assess the role of education. Our results confirm that education is important for the allocation to job levels. Using data on cognitive ability, we also find that the effect of education on wages is at least partially because it signals cognitive ability. We also find evidence that the returns to education are not related to performance, while the returns to cognitive ability are.     

Welfare-improving policy on medical tourism and labor productivity: A theoretical analysis

This paper considers welfare and wage inequality effects of developing medical tourism on the host country from a theoretical point of view. Due to the competition between public healthcare provision and medical tourism, the development of medical tourism might reduce labor productivity and thus widen wage inequality via the increased wage rates of healthcare workers and decreased wage rates of production workers. In addition, the expansion of medical tourism can lower social welfare of the host country through a decline in labor productivity caused by reduced public healthcare provision. A tax-subsidy welfare-improving scheme is suggested to mitigate the unfavorable productivity effect of medical tourism on the host economy. This theoretical result fits into current empirical evidence on medical tourism.     

How Fast Do Banks Adjust? A Dynamic Model of Labor-Use with an Application to Swedish Banks

This paper deals with a dynamic adjustment process in which adjustment of a key variable input (labor) towards its desired level is modeled in a panel data context. The partial adjustment type model is extended to make the adjustment parameter both firm- and time-specific by specifying it as a function of firm- and time-specific variables. Desired level of labor use is represented by a labor requirement function, which is a function of outputs and other firm-specific variables. The catch-up factor is defined as the ratio of actual to desired level of employment. Productivity growth is then defined in terms of a shift in the desired level of labor use and the change in the catch-up factor. Swedish banking data is used as an application of the above model.     

中国农业生产率增长的地区差距与收敛性分析

在利用非参数的DEA曼奎斯特生产率指数方法对中国农业全要素生产率进行求解的基础上,论文运用经济增长收敛理论对农业TFP（Total Factor Productivity）增长在1978～2005年转型期的收敛性情况进行检验,这包括从σ收敛、绝对β收敛到条件β收敛的全面检验。论文基本结论表明,整个转型期中国农业TFP增长并不存在显著的σ收敛和绝对β收敛性,但存在显著的条件β收敛性。论文最终还认为,通过一定政策性措施来实现中国农业TFP增长的绝对收敛是可能的。     

R&D Spillovers for Public R&D Productivity

ABSTRACT

This paper empirically investigates whether the productivity of a public (government-funded) R&D project improves when the aggregate R&D investment in the same technology field increases. Based on the unique project level data that cover almost entire public R&D projects in Korea, this paper shows that aggregate investment in other public R&D projects in the same technology field increases a public R&D project’s outputs both independent of its project expenditure (additive spillover effects) and interactive with its project expenditure (multiplicative spillover effects). The spillover effects from the aggregate private R&D investment in the same technology field also exist, but to a much lesser extent.     

人力资本与战略性新兴产业发展——基于105家上市公司的DEA-Malmquist指数分析

利用DEA-Malmquist指数,对我国7大战略性新兴产业2007年—2011年全要素生产率的变动做了纵向和横向比较,并进一步测算了各产业分别以人力资本和物质资本作为单一投入要素的Malmquist指数,即对战略性新兴产业全要素生产率分行业进行了要素分解,从而对人力资本投入对于培育和发展战略性新兴产业的重要性,以及各细分行业的人才战略实施情况有一个整体把握。结论认为要充分发挥人力资本的作用,依靠企业内部的高强度人才招聘和培训是其中一方面,而更应从价值链重构、产业结构调整的视阈中开拓人才战略的新思路。     

Productivity growth and biased technological change: The case of Moroccan hotels

This paper proposes a procedure to analyze Moroccan hotels productivity, based on Luenberger productivity indicator to estimate and decompose productivity change into efficiency change and technological change. This paper enlarges the procedure and further decomposes technological change to study the sources of bias in technological change. Therefore, a clearer and more enlightening view of tourism productivity change emerges. Policy implications are developed.     

Water accounting for the Orange River Basin: An economic perspective on managing a transboundary resource

The framework for water accounting is applied to an international river basin, the Orange River Basin, which is shared among Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and South Africa. Each of the riparian states faces water constraints and relies increasingly on shared international water resources. The countries have adopted the principle of an economic approach to water management, once basin human needs are met, and all but Lesotho have constructed national water accounts to assist in water management. The water accounts for the Orange River Basin bring an economic perspective to water management at the regional level. The accounts include supply and use tables, which are used to compare the contribution to water supply from each riparian state to the amount used. The water accounts are then linked to economic data for each country to calculate water use and productivity by industry and country. There are considerable disparities in water productivity among the countries, which should be taken into account in future decisions about water allocation, pricing and infrastructure development.