New Economics Papers
on Efficiency and Productivity
Issue of 2005‒11‒12
four papers chosen by



  1. Firm Turnover, Restructuring and Labour Productivity in Transition: The Case of Poland By Barbara M. Roberts; Steve Thompson
  2. Determinants of Total Factor Productivity in the Italian Regions By Guido Ascari; Valeria Di Cosmo
  3. Identifying Age, Cohort and Period Effects in Scientific Research Productivity: Discussion and Illustration Using Simulated and Actual Data on French Physicists By Bronwyn H. Hall; Jacques Mairesse; Laure Turner
  4. The Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Labour Productivity: An Overview of an Empirical Study of Estonia and Slovenia By Priit Vahter

  1. By: Barbara M. Roberts; Steve Thompson
    Abstract: This paper explores the impact of turnover and restructuring on labour productivity in the Polish economy over the period 1988-1993. Changes in aggregate productivity are decomposed into elements corresponding to productivity growth among survivors, market share growth by survivors and the contributions of entering and exiting firms. The traditional entry and exit effects begin to work as transition to a market economy progresses. However, initial productivity improvements are due to changes to market shares of the existing firms following the break-up of large enterprises. Regression analysis shows that changes in the firm-level productivity are affected by restructuring and a more competitive economic environment.
    Date: 2005–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lec:leecon:05/27&r=eff
  2. By: Guido Ascari (University of Pavia); Valeria Di Cosmo (University of Pavia)
    Abstract: This paper investigates the determinants of TFP for Italian regions. We find strong evidence in favour of the factors commonly suggested by the theoretical literature. In particular, R&D expenditures and the number of researchers are positively related to regional TFP. Moreover, human capital is an important determinant of TFP. Finally, we find a strong difference between Northern and Southern regions, particularly regarding the effect of research activity and social capital. Our results are robust across different estimation methods.
    Keywords: Total factor productivity, Italian regions, panel data, human capital, social capital
    JEL: O47 C23 R11
    Date: 2005–11–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpma:0511009&r=eff
  3. By: Bronwyn H. Hall; Jacques Mairesse; Laure Turner
    Abstract: The identification of age, cohort (vintage), and period (year) effects in a panel of individuals or other units is an old problem in the social sciences, but one that has not been much studied in the context of measuring researcher productivity. In the context of a semi-parametric model of productivity where these effects are assumed to enter in an additive manner, we present the conditions necessary to identify and test for the presence of the three effects. In particular we show that failure to specify precisely the conditions under which such a model is identified can lead to misleading conclusions about the productivity-age relationship. We illustrate our methods using data on the publications 1986-1997 by 465 French condensed matter physicists who were born between 1936 and 1960.
    JEL: C23 O31 J44
    Date: 2005–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11739&r=eff
  4. By: Priit Vahter (Eesti Pank (Bank of Estonia) Research Department, University of Tartu)
    Abstract: This paper studies the effects of foreign direct investment on labour productivity in manufacturing industries of two transition countries, Estonia and Slovenia. The emphasis is on the dimension of export/local market orientation. The study is based on firm-level panel data. It is shown that in Estonia the export oriented foreign investment enterprises have on average much lower labour productivity than the domestic market oriented foreign affiliates. In Slovenia, on the contrary, the export orientation of foreign affiliates is not correlated with lower labour productivity. No horizontal spillover of foreign direct investment to domestic firms is detected in Estonia. In Slovenia, however, positive spillovers to domestic firms are found. The findings show also that different types of foreign direct investment can have different effects on the host country and that the existence of positive spillover may depend on the level of economic development of the host country.
    Keywords: foreign direct investment, productivity, spillovers, export oriented foreign direct investments
    JEL: F10 F21 F23
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ttu:wpaper:tutwpe05/123&r=eff

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