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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2008‒12‒07
ten papers chosen by |
| By: | Jan Průša (Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge; Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes microeconomic production functions of Czech small medium enterprises. We use the data from 2002 to 2005 of thirty manufacturing industries (agriculture and services are not included), each divided into five subgroups according to the number of employees. We employ stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to make statistical inference on the production process. Our results demonstrate that Czech SME depend in their functioning more on labour than on capital. The impact of investment or intangible assets such as software or patents is negligible. SFA strongly supports the presence of a systematic gap between common practice and best practice: the majority of firms significantly differ from top performers. Finally a simple test for time effect shows that between 2003 and 2005 Czech SME moved towards higher efficiency. |
| Keywords: | production, efficiency measurement, stochastic frontier analysis, small and medium enterprises |
| JEL: | D24 L25 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2008_32&r=eff |
| By: | Rosario Crinò (Bocconi University, Milan - Italy) |
| Abstract: | Using comparable industry-level data for nine Western European countries, this paper finds that the international relocation of service activities (service offshoring) exerts positive and economically large effects on domestic productivity. A one percentage point increase in the proxy for service offshoring (i.e., the share of imported private services in total non-energy input purchases) is found to raise Total Factor Productivity by about 0.5%. |
| Keywords: | Service Offshoring; Total Factor Productivity |
| JEL: | F1 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cri:cespri:wp220&r=eff |
| By: | Johansson, Börje (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how a firm’s R&D strategy influences the firm performance as measured by productivity and profitability. A formal production model is introduced to define and interpret alternative ways of measuring the impact of R&D. Studying 1,767 randomly selected firms from the Swedish manufacturing sector, the main findings are: (i) firms which apply persistent R&D perform better than firms with occasional as well as no R&D, (ii) occasional R&D is associated with lower performance than no R&D, and (iii) in quantile regressions the positive effect from R&D persistency is lacking for low productivity firms (lowest quartile) indicating a non-linear response. Moreover, the analysis recognises the different roles of ordinary and knowledge labour in production when specifying alternative performance measures and when identifying knowledge labour as a firm’s R&D capacity, which has a highly significant impact on firm performance. Introducing a formal production model in order to define and interpret alternative ways of measuring the impact of R&D, we apply simple ordinary OLS and quantile regressions on the economic model for analyzing the importance for a particular R&D strategy on firms’ productivity and profitability. To the best of our knowledge, we believe that the main findings of the analysis make contributions to the R&D literature. |
| Keywords: | R&D; productivity; profit; innovation; production analysis |
| JEL: | L19 O33 |
| Date: | 2008–12–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0156&r=eff |
| By: | Álvaro Escribano Sáez; Rodolfo Stucchi |
| Abstract: | Spain has recently experienced more than a decade of price stability and economic growth however now is showing one of the most significant slowdowns in economic activity of the EU economies. There is a general consensus that this slowdown in economic activity is particularly important in Spain due to the low level and low rates of growth experienced by total factor productivity (TFP) during more than a decade. Among the key policy elements that could enhance TFP of manufacturing firms in Spain we find those related to human capital, foreign direct investment, and process innovations. We evaluate the effect of recessions on the productivity growth of firms with different level of productivity. We present evidence on the dynamic of firm’s TFP through the business cycle allowing for a differentiated behavior for technological leaders and followers. We observe lower persistence and faster convergence in TFP during recessions and, higher persistence and non convergence in TFP during expansions. These empirical findings are consistent with the predictions obtained from the technological diffusion literature and from the fact that firm’s innovation is pro-cyclical. These conclusions are obtained from a microeconometric analysis of surveys of Spanish manufacturing firms (ESEE) from 1991 to year 2005. |
| Keywords: | Productivity catching up, Technology diffusion, Pro-cyclical innovation, Technological leaders, Business cycle |
| JEL: | C23 C52 D24 L16 L60 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we085125&r=eff |
| By: | Vogel, Alexander (University of Lüneburg); Wagner, Joachim (University of Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a newly available comprehensive panel data set for manufacturing enterprises from 2001 to 2005 to document the first empirical results on the relationship between imports and productivity for Germany, a leading actor on the world market for goods. Furthermore, for the first time the direction of causality in this relationship is investigated systematically by testing for self-selection of more productive firms into importing, and for productivity-enhancing effects of imports ('learning-by-importing'). We find a positive link between importing and productivity. From an empirical model with fixed enterprise effects that controls for firm size, industry, and unobservable firm heterogeneity we see that the premia for trading internationally are about the same in West and East Germany. Compared to firms that do not trade at all two-way traders do have the highest premia, followed by firms that only export, while firms that only import have the smallest estimated premia. We find evidence for a positive impact of productivity on importing, pointing to self-selection of more productive enterprises into imports, but no evidence for positive effects of importing on productivity due to learning-by-importing. |
| Keywords: | imports, exports, productivity, enterprise panel data, Germany |
| JEL: | F14 D21 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3854&r=eff |
| By: | Fatma Gul Unal |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between farm size and yield per acre in Turkey using heretofore untapped data from a 2002 farm-level survey of 5,003 rural households. After controlling for village, household, and agroclimatic heterogeneity, a strong inverse relationship between farm size and yield is found to be prevalent in all regions of Turkey. The paper also investigates the impact of land fragmentation on productivity and labor input per acre, and finds a positive relationship. These results favor labor-centered theories that point to higher labor input per decare as the source of the inverse size-yield relationship. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_551&r=eff |
| By: | Pablo Selaya; Rainer Thiele |
| Abstract: | The paper examines empirically the proposition that aid to poor countries is detrimental for external competitiveness, giving rise to Dutch disease type effects. At the aggregate level, aid is found to have a positive effect on growth of labour productivity. A sectoral decomposition shows that the effect is significant and positive both in the tradables and the nontradables sectors. The paper thus finds no empirical support for the hypothesis that aid reduces external competitiveness in developing countries. Possible reasons are the existence of large idle labour capacity and high levels of dollarization in financial liabilities at the firm level |
| Keywords: | Foreign aid, sectoral labour productivity, Dutch disease |
| JEL: | F35 O47 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1468&r=eff |
| By: | Jarno Hoekman (Urban & Regional research centre Utrecht (URU), Utrecht University - The Netherlands); Koen Frenken (Urban & Regional research centre Utrecht (URU), Utrecht University - The Netherlands); Frank van Oort (Netherlands Institute for Spatial Research (RPB)- The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | The geography of innovation traditionally concentrates on localised knowledge spillovers, yet neglects collaboration networks as a means to access knowledge outside the region. Using publication and patent data for 1316 regions in the EU27 plus Norway and Switzerland, we find that both localised knowledge spillovers and the knowledge spillovers stemming from collaboration affect the innovative performance of regions. The results provide support for EU policies aimed at creating European collaboration networks. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge Production Function, Spillovers, Collaboration, Networks, European Research Area, Publication, Patent, Public Good |
| JEL: | C21 O30 O33 O52 R11 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cri:cespri:wp222&r=eff |
| By: | Nuru, Seid; Seebens, Holger |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to demonstrate how location of an agricultural economic activity in relation to urban centers determines households' decision to allot their agricultural land to the production of either staple crop or a high value but risky cash crop. Analyzing household data from villages in North Eastern Ethiopia, we find that proximity to urban centers, access to road, and education along with other factors determine the crop choice in favor of the production of high value crops. Crop choices further significantly predict levels of per capita income across villages where the farthest with no access to road are the poorest. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2008–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:37863&r=eff |
| By: | Lim, Jamus Jerome; Adams-Kane, Jonathon |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the interactions between governance, educational outcomes, and economic performance. More specifically, we seek to establish the linkages by which institutional quality affect growth by considering its mediating impact on education. While the contribution of both human capital and institutions to growth are often acknowledged, the channels by which institutions affect human capital and, in turn, growth, has been relatively underexplored. Our empirical approach adopts a two-stage strategy that estimates national-level educational production functions which include institutional governance as a covariate, and uses these estimates as instruments for human capital in cross-country growth regressions. |
| Keywords: | Institutions; human capital; education; economic growth |
| JEL: | O43 H11 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11800&r=eff |