|
on Efficiency and Productivity |
|
Issue of 2005‒11‒09
seventeen papers chosen by |
| By: | Eckhardt Bode |
| Abstract: | Several recent econometric investigations found externalities related to the density of economic activity to account for one fifth to one half of total regional variations in average labor productivity in the U.S. and big European countries, including Germany. The present paper shows for German NUTS 3 regions, first, that this result is not robust against a more extensive control for private returns that may be correlated with economic density. The paper presents, second, evidence of various types of agglomeration economies, including labor-market pooling, human-capital externalities, localized R&D spillovers, gains from the variety of intermediate goods, to affect regional productivity significantly. Although the productivity effects of these externalities within regions cannot be identified because they are observationally equivalent to individual returns, they can be identified by exploiting the spatial dimension of the data. Keywords: productivity, agglomeration externalities, spatial econometrics JEL: C21, R12 |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p120&r=eff |
| By: | Juan Miguel Benito; Roberto Ezcurra |
| Abstract: | This paper applies nonparametric techniques in order to examine the evolution of the entire distribution of regional productivity in the European Union between 1977 and 1999. Likewise, we study the strength of the respective roles played by regional and sectoral factors in the convergence in productivity observed in the European context. To achieve this aim, we consider a new methodology involving a modification of conventional shift-share analysis and various results reported in the literature on personal income distribution. Our results suggest that regional inequality in productivity in the European Union is closely linked to intrinsic differences between regions. Likewise, the analyses performed reveal the major role played by the national component and the spatial dimension in the explanation of regional disparities in the product per worker in the European Union. In addition, our findings support the relevance of one-sector growth models for analysing regional disparities in per capita income. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p102&r=eff |
| By: | Hiroyuki Kasahara (University of Western Ontario); Joel Rodrigue (Queen's University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether importing intermediate goods improves plant performance. While addressing the issue of simultaneity of a productivity shock and the decision to import intermediates, we estimate the impact of the use of foreign intermediates on plants' productivity using plant-level Chilean manufacturing panel data. We found that switching from being a non- importer to being an importer of foreign intermediates can improve productivity by 2.3 to 22.0 percent. We also investigate the plant dynamic decisions to import, invest, and exit. The results show that having imported last year substantially increases the probability of importing this year, providing the evidence for sunk start-up costs of importing. We also found that importers accumulate more capital and are less likely to exit than non-importers, which indicates that importing intermediates may play an important role in reallocating resources across heterogeneous plants. |
| Keywords: | productivity; imported intermediates; plant-level |
| JEL: | F10 D21 D24 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwo:epuwoc:20057&r=eff |
| By: | Elias Soukiazis; Micaela Antunes |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to explain regional convergence in Portugal, at Nuts III level, in terms of per capita income and productivity. In doing so, we employ an alternative estimation approach based on panel data analysis that allows for individual differences across regions, avoiding with this way the omitted variable bias occurred in single cross-section regressions. The known concepts of absolute and conditional convergence are tested between the 30 Portuguese regions, as well as, the importance of some conditioning structural factors related to resource allocation and demand conditions. Our evidence shows that convergence among the 30 regions in Portugal is rather conditional than absolute, both, in terms of per capita income and productivity. On the other hand, labour shares in the main economic sectors as measures of resource reallocation are important in explaining convergence in per capita income and productivity. Output growth, reflecting demand conditions and labour composition by sectors are shown to be relevant conditioning factors in explaining the convergence process in productivity and controlling for differences in regional structures. Our evidence shows a more significant shift of labour from the primary to the tertiary sector and when this element is introduced into the convergence equations, convergence is shown to be higher. Keywords: absolute and conditional convergence, per capita income, productivity, labour shares, panel regressions. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p54&r=eff |
| By: | Roberto Basile; Luca De Benedictis |
| Abstract: | The existence and persistence of large spatial disparities in un-employment within national economies is a central issue in regional economics. Previous empirical analyses have largely disregarded the role of fundamentals. On the contrary in this paper we explore the link between labour productivity, international trade and regional un-employment differentials. We base our empirical analysis on the predictions of a simple General Oligopolistic Equilibrium effciency-wage trade model. Using semi parametric regression methods, controlling for industry-mix and labour force participation, we give evidence of a non linear negative relationship between labour productivity and regional unemployment, in the cases of European regions. Instead, no significant relationships between these variables have been found for the United States. Keywords: Productivity, Regional Unemployment, Oligopoly, Non parametrics. JEL Classification: C14, D50, F12, F16, J41, L13, R10. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p38&r=eff |
| By: | Heikki A. Loikkanen; Ilkka Susiluoto |
| Abstract: | Cost efficiency of basic welfare service provision in 353 Finnish municipalities in 1994-2002 is investigated in an ongoing study. The municipal sector has a central role in the Finnish economy as a provider of welfare services. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a non-parametric linear programming method is employed, calculating a best practise production frontier for the decision making units, and comparing the various DMUs with this frontier. The inputs consisted of four to ten of the most important services in health, social and educational sector. As the combined output, total real production costs of these services were used. According to the results efficiency differences were considerable between the municipalities, and a small group of a peripheral municipalities scored clearly below the others. Annual changes in cost efficiency were estimated. At the second stage, differences in the DEA efficiency scores were explained by using Tobit panel models. It was found that larger population and peripheral geographic position tend to reduce efficiency of municipal service production, while higher education level of inhabitants increases it. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p283&r=eff |
| By: | Ben Gardiner; Ron Martin; Tyler Peter |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p333&r=eff |
| By: | Henri De Groot; Peter Mulder |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an empirical analysis of energy- and labour-productivity convergence at a detailed sectoral level for 14 OECD countries, covering the period 1970-1997. A -convergence analysis shows that the development of cross-country variation in productivity performance depends on the level of aggregation. Both patterns of convergence as well as divergence are found. A -convergence analysis provides support for the hypothesis that in most sectors lagging countries tend to catch up with technological leaders, in particular in terms of energy productivity. Moreover, the results show that convergence is conditional rather than unconditional, meaning that productivity levels converge to country-specific steady states, and that cross-country differences of energy-productivity levels are substantially larger than of labour-productivity levels at all levels of sectoral aggregation. Finally, searching for the fundamentals determining cross-country productivity differentials reveals a positive productivity effect of energy prices and economies of scale in several sectors, while wages, investment share, openness and specialization play only a very limited role in explaining (cross-country differences in) energy- and labour-productivity growth. Keywords: energy productivity, labour productivity, convergence, sectoral analysis JEL codes: O13, O47, O5, Q43 |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p337&r=eff |
| By: | Maria Jesus Delgado Rodriguez; Inmaculada Alvarez Ayuso |
| Abstract: | This work decompose labor-productivity grotwh and convergence in EU into components attributable to technological change (shifts in the European production frontier), technological catch-up (movements toward or away from the frontier) and factor accumulation (movement toward or away from the frontier). This work extends previous researchs considering public capital and human capitas as additional productive inputs and analysing its separate constribution to convergence as components of factor accumulation. In the case of human capital, we also test its rate effect as determinant factor of technical change. With this purpose we applied the Malmquist index of total factor productivity to an European data base to provide evidence for the 15 EU State Members. The results show that growth is primarily driven by factor accumulation which contribution is fundamental for lagging countries. We do not find evidence of any significant convergence over the whole period studied related to integration with factor accumulation and efficiency change as important factors of convergence while technical change (encouraged by greater human capital) has worked against it. Key words: Human Capital, Malmquist Index, Source of Convergence. JEL Classification: O47 H54 D24 |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p164&r=eff |
| By: | Valter Di Giacinto; Giorgio Nuzzo |
| Abstract: | Labor productivity convergence is a key factor in the catching up process of less developed regions. For the regional economies as a whole labor productivity differentials can be traced back to three distinct determinants: - composition effects due to the peculiar structure of the regional economy; a lower than average productivity level could, for instance, be due to the fact that a greater share or the regional labor force is employed in sectors that are denoted by lower productivity at the aggregate level; - different regional endowments, within each given industry, of physical and human capital per worker; - differing levels of total factor productivity (TFP). The study aims at explaining substantial and persistent regional differentials in labor productivity in Italy providing: 1. an assessment of the role played by the three factors above outlined in the variuos regions; 2. an empirical evaluation of the role played by some of the relevant factors suggested in the related literature (e.g., public and social capital, R&D expenditure, international openness, financial markets development, agglomeration and diversification economies, geographic factors), in explaining regional TFP differentials. The empirical analysis makes use of a particularly rich data set including annual regional accounts and capital stock data for 17 industries covering the period 1970-1994. Estimates of human capital broken down by region and industry are produced by the authors pooling information from the Labor force survey and Bank of Italy’s Survey of households income and wealth. The analysis of structural composition effects is carried out by means of the shift-share technique proposed by Esteban (2000), while a cointegrated panel model is used to estimate total factor productivity by region and sector. In an attempt to assess the relevance of spatial externalities in explaining regional TFP levels the final regression analysis makes use of spatial econometric techniques. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p105&r=eff |
| By: | Erik Louw; Yvonne Bontekoning |
| Abstract: | In regional science the interest in spatial distribution of productivity is focussed on labour productivity. In our research we focus on another important production factor that is land. By planning local authorities allocate land to different categories of land use. As part of research on the efficiency of this allocation process in the Netherlands, a method is developed to determine the productivity of industrial land (added value per hectare industrial land). To calculate this ‘spatial productivity’, data from the Dutch industrial estates database are used in combination with regional employment and regional output statistics. The paper will explain the method used and show some results. The research outcomes show that there are substantial differences in spatial productivity in the Netherlands. These differences seem to correlate positively with the urban density. On the other hand the share of added value created on industrial estates by region seems to correlate negatively with urban density. Therefore there is some evidence for the hypothesis that industrial land in urbanised regions is used more efficiently than in other areas, indicating that agglomeration effects are observable in spatial productivity. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p63&r=eff |
| By: | Fumitoshi Mizutani; Tomoyasu Tanaka |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this study is to determine whether public capital contributes to productivity growth and, if so, what kind of public capital contributes most. We analyze a dataset of 46 prefectures in Japan over 41 years, from 1955 to 1995, and estimate the production function as the first-differenced form. In the case where analysis was conducted using aggregate public capital, public capital shows a positive contribution to private production. However, we could find no clear productivity effects when using smaller components of public capital. Key Words: Public Capital, Productivity Effect, Infrastructure, Spill-over Effect JEL: Classification H50, H54, R53 |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p316&r=eff |
| By: | Simona Iammarino; Cecilia Jona-Lasinio; Susanna Mantegazza |
| Abstract: | Among the reasons underlying the slow economic convergence of some regions towards the national and the European Union average, the strong gap in technological endowment and innovation capacity has been indicated as one of the most important factors. The requirements of the current ‘knowledge economy’ and the contribution of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to socio-economic change are very likely to have a significant impact upon regional differentials in the Union: so far, however, it is rather unclear whether the new paradigm will spur greater socio-economic cohesion or, on the contrary, stronger territorial polarisation. This paper looks at the geographical distribution of ICT-producing small and medium enterprises (i.e. with less than 100 employees) in Italy, comparing locational patterns - as well as other crucial structural indicators - with labour productivity levels. Ultimately, the objective is to shed some light on the role that ICT-producing sectors might have on regional gaps in the Italian economy, traditionally characterised by geographical polarisation and imbalances which are among the sharpest in the “Europe of regions”. The first result of our analysis (carried out by using experimental micro data) is that a clear linkage seems to emerge between high labour productivity and the IT industry. This is in line with the insights of the economic theory of technical change, suggesting that IT-producing sectors are those where gains in productivity are by far the most evident. As expected, the geographical location of firms accounts for a good deal when looking at labour productivity levels across the sectoral range, casting some concern on the development perspectives of the Italian regional divide. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p183&r=eff |
| By: | Charlie Karlsson; Lars Pettersson Jönköping |
| Abstract: | Access to knowledge and local service markets can be assumed to explain regional growth performance. The supply of services and knowledge with respect to regional development are stressed in the seminal papers by for example Rivera-Batiz (1988) and Knowledge referens. In this paper we make an empirical analyse using panel data for Swedish regions. The purpose is to analyse the relationship between regional growth and access to knowledge. We also acknowledge the size of the regional economy and access to the local labour market. We estimate first a cross-section model by using OLS. Second we employ a panel data model, using time distance access to population and the share local labour force with high education as explanatory variables. In the analysis we compare the results from the different models and our own results from the Swedish economy with other studies in this field. We find that local externalities for increasing returns are very important in the Swedish economy. Our estimated models yields a high level of goodness of fit, and the results indicates significant elasticity for high education and population density in the Swedish economy with respect to performance of regional gross domestic product. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p170&r=eff |
| By: | Giuseppe Arbia; Gianfranco Piras |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the convergence of per capita GDP across European regions over a fairly long period. Most of the works are based on either cross-sectional or fixed-effects estimates. We propose the estimation of convergence in per capita GDP across European regions by making use of panel-data models extended to include spatial error autocorrelation and spatially lagged dependent variable (Anselin,1988;Elhorst,2002). This will allow us to extend the traditional ß convergence model to include a rigorous treatment of the spatial correlation among the intercept terms. A spatial analysis of such intercept terms will also be performed in order to shed light on the concept spatially conditional convergence. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p524&r=eff |
| By: | Takuya Urakami |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of subsidies on the cost structure of Japanese water supply organizations by estimating the translog cost function. Geographical conditions, such as network density and water sources, are also controlled in this model. The empirical results indicate that low network density, lack of own water sources and increasing subsidies lead to higher costs. It has also been found that subsidies have caused wasteful use of labor, capital and other input factors, and have diminished scale economies. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p260&r=eff |
| By: | Rosina Moreno; Raffaele Paci; Stefano Usai |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the spatial distribution of innovative activity and the role of technological spillovers in the process of knowledge creation across 138 regions of 17 countries in Europe (the 15 members of the European Union plus Switzerland and Norway). The analysis is based on an original statistical databank set up by CRENoS on regional patenting at the European Patent Office spanning from 1978 to 1997 and classified by ISIC sectors (3 digit). In a first step, a deep exploratory spatial data analysis of the dissemination of innovative activity in Europe is performed. Some global and local indicators for spatial association are presented, summarising the presence of a dependence process in the distribution of innovative activity for different periods and sectors. Secondly, we attempt to model the behaviour of innovative activity at the regional level on the basis of a knowledge production function. Econometric results points to the relevance of internal factors (R&D expenditure, economic performance, agglomeration economies). Moreover, the production of knowledge by European regions seems to be also affected by spatial spillovers due to innovative activity performed in other regions. Keywords: Innovative activity, Spatial analysis, European regions, Knowledge production function. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p588&r=eff |