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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2008‒04‒21
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Joze P. Damijan; Crt Kostevc; Saso Polanec |
| Abstract: | Firm productivity and export decision are closely related to its innovation ac- tivity. Product innovation may play a more important role in the decision to start exporting, while the decision for process innovation may be triggered by success- ful exporting. This suggests that the causality between innovation and exporting may run from product innovation to exporting and conesequently from exporting to process innovation and reverse productivity improvements. Using detailed mi- crodata, including innovation survey, industrial production survey and information on trade, for Slovenian firms in 1996-2002 we investigate this dual causal relation- ship between firms' innovation and exporting activity. We find no evidence for the hypothesis that either product or process innovations increase the probability of becoming a first time exporter, but find consistent support both in the innovation survey as well as in the industrial production survey that exporting does lead to pro- ductivity improvements. These, however, are likely to be related to process rather than product innovations and are limited to a sample of medium and large sized first time exporters only. |
| Keywords: | ?rm heterogeneity, innovation, exporting, productivity, matching |
| JEL: | D24 F14 F21 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:20408&r=eff |
| By: | Razzak, Weshah |
| Abstract: | As far as we know there has been no, or very little, empirical examination of search models and unemployment – vacancy relationship in New Zealand. We empirically examine dynamic matching functions in the New Zealand labor market over the period 1986-2006. Further, it is well documented that although New Zealand and Australia embarked on similar wide economic reforms almost 25 years ago, the level of New Zealand’s labor productivity is still lower than that of Australia (Razzak, 2007) and lower than the US productivity level (Prescott, 2002). It is has been argued that among the main explanatory variable is the low level of capital intensity – capital per hour worked - Razzak (2007) and Hall and Scobie (2005). However, there has been no formal explanation for the low level of capital intensity. This paper explains why capital investments are relatively lower in New Zealand. We do this by examining the dynamics of the labor markets in New Zealand and Australia. |
| Keywords: | Matching Function; Beveridge curve; Labor Productivity |
| JEL: | C13 J64 C22 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8262&r=eff |
| By: | Wang, Lili (UNU-MERIT); Szirmai, Adam (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new estimates of capital inputs in the Chinese economy. Estimates are made for the total economy (1953-2003), for the industrial sector (1978-2003) and for the manufacturing sector (1985-2003). The estimates for industry and manufacturing are broken down by thirty regions. The main contribution of this paperlies in constructing hitherto unvailable estimates of capital inputs at the level of Chinese regions. The paper makes a systematic attempt to apply SNA concepts to the estimation of Chinese capital inputs, according to the Perpetual Inventory Method. It makes a clear distinction between capital services and wealth capital stocks. After a general discussion of theoretical issues in capital measurement, the paper provides a detailed analysis of the relevant Chinese statistical concepts and data. It goes on to discuss previous capital estimates in the light of the modern conceptual and theoretical discussions. It ends with an explanation of the procedures followed in constructing the national and regional capital input series. |
| Keywords: | Capital Inputs, Capital Services, Regions, China, Industry, Manufacturing |
| JEL: | O47 R11 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2008028&r=eff |
| By: | Martin S. Feldstein |
| Abstract: | The level of productivity doubled in the U.S. nonfarm business sector between 1970 and 2006. Wages, or more accurately total compensation per hour, increased at approximately the same annual rate during that period if nominal compensation is adjusted for inflation in the same way as the nominal output measure that is used to calculate productivity. Total employee compensation as a share of national income was 66 percent of national income in 1970 and 64 percent in 2006. This measure of the labor compensation share has been remarkably stable since the 1970s. It rose from an average of 62 percent in the decade of the 1960s to 66 percent in the decades of the 1970s and 1980s and then declined to 65 percent in the decade of the 1990s where it has again been from 2000 until the most recent quarter. |
| JEL: | E24 J3 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13953&r=eff |
| By: | Yutaka Arimoto (JSPS Research Fellow / University of Tokyo, Faculty of Economics); Tetsuji Okazaki (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo); Masaki Nakabayashi (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the determinants of agrarian tenancy contract choice and its implication on productivity in prewar Japan. Rapid agricultural growth under extensive tenancy relationships in prewar Japan was achieved with the prevalence of a unique rent reduction contract, which was more efficient than a share tenancy or a pure fixed-rent contract in terms of provision of incentives and risk-sharing. Despite its potential efficiency, a rent reduction contract incurred substantial transaction costs, which may have inhibited its adoption outside Japan. The prevalence of this contract in prewar Japan was likely due to the presence of villages that reduced such costs through informal governance of the private tenancy relationships. We found quantitatively at the village level that the choice of tenancy contract in prewar Iwate prefecture was affected by risk and possibly transaction costs. Furthermore, a sign of Marshallian inefficiency was found at the prefecture level, where the prevalence of tenancy and productivity is negatively correlated and such inefficiency was worse in prefectures with a greater proportion of share tenancy. |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2008cf549&r=eff |
| By: | Marius Sorin Krammer |
| Abstract: | While the economic theory predicts that developing countries will gain the most from technology spillovers, there have been only a few analyses looking at this question empirically. The present study focuses on a panel of 27 transition and 20 Western European countries between 1990 and 2006 and uses the latest developments in panel unit root and cointegration testing to disentangle the effects of international spillovers via trade and FDI. My findings show that imports remain the main channel of diffusion for both sets of countries, while FDI, although significant econometrically, has less quantitative impact on domestic productivity. The domestic R&D capital stock plays an active role in Western Europe while in the Eastern part is much less important. Human capital has an overall robust positive influence on TFP. The results confirm that transition countries seem to gain more in terms of productivity from the international diffusion process than their Western counterparts. |
| Keywords: | technology spillovers; trade; investment; panel cointegration |
| JEL: | O30 O47 O57 C23 D24 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieasw:446&r=eff |