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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2009‒10‒17
thirteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Oh, Donghyun (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Heshmati, Almas (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 presents the parametric estimation of the rates of technical change and total factor productivity (TFP) growth of 7,462 Korean manufacturing firms for the period 1987 to 2007. Two alternative formulations of technical change measured by the time trend and the general index approaches are estimated with panel data models assuming flexible functional forms. Several extensions of each approach are also considered and their benefits and limitations are discussed. In addition to making estimates of the TFP growth and its decomposition, the paper compares the parametric TFP growth measure with the non-parametric Solow residual serving as a benchmark. Several hypotheses related to technology level, firm sizes, industrial sectors, skill biased technological change and macroeconomic and industrial policies are tested to explain the growth patterns and heterogeneity in technical change, input biases and TFP growth rates. Using second regression analysis, the paper explores the determinants of TFP growth and their policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Total factor productivity; technical change; manufacturing industry; determinants of growth; |
| JEL: | C23 C51 D24 L25 L60 |
| Date: | 2009–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0201&r=eff |
| By: | Elisabetta Fiorentino (Deutsche Bundesbank); Alessio De Vincenzo (Bank of Italy); Frank Heid (Deutsche Bundesbank); Alexander Karmann (Technische Universität Dresden); Michael Koetter (University of Groningen) |
| Abstract: | The Italian and German banking systems shared similar characteristics early in the 1990s but have evolved in different directions since then: Italy privatized its publicly-owned banks while Germany has maintained a large share of state-owned savings banks. Contemporaneously, banks in both markets engaged heavily in mergers and acquisitions. We analyze how these activities have affected banksÂ’ productivity in the period 1994-2004, differentiating between technical change, efficiency change and scale economies. We find that privatized banks experienced a significant increase in productivity, especially if they subsequently merged with other banks. German banks were still able to increase their productivity through consolidation. |
| Keywords: | banking market integration, deregulation, total factor productivity, Italy, Germany |
| JEL: | D24 G21 G28 L33 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_722_09&r=eff |
| By: | Carlos Pestana Barros; Albert Assaf; Fabio Sá-Earp |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a two stage bootstrapped DEA-Data Envelopment analysis model to analyze the technical efficiency of Brazilian first league football clubs, using recent input and output data over the period 2006-2007. In the first stage a bootstrapped DEA model is used to derive the efficiency scores and in the second stage, the determinants of technical efficiency are identified using a bootstrapped truncated regression. Results from the model estimation show that the efficiency ranking is mixed with some clubs of similar characteristics showing different performance. Factors which contributed to these results as well as other policy implications are provided. |
| Keywords: | Football, Brazil, Bootstrap, DEA, Technical Efficiency |
| JEL: | E4 E5 G2 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp272009&r=eff |
| By: | Giulio Bottazzi (LEM - Laboratory of Economics and Management - Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies); Giovanni Dosi (LEM - Laboratory of Economics and Management - Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna); Nadia Jacoby (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Angelo Secchi (LEM - Laboratory of Economics and Management - Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies); Federico Tamagni (LEM - Laboratory of Economics and Management - Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies) |
| Abstract: | Diverse theories of industry dynamics predict heterogeneity in production efficiency to be the driver of firms' growth, survival and industrial change, either through a direct link between efficiency and growth, or through an indirect effect via profitabilities, as more productive firms can enjoy higher profit margins which, under imperfect capital markets, allow them to invest and grow more. Does the empirical evidence bear such predictions? This paper explores the dynamics of selection and reallocation through an investigation of the productivity-profitability-growth relations at the firm level. Exploiting large panels of Italian and French industrial firms, we find that heterogeneity in efficiencies primarily yield persistent profitability differentials, whereas the relationships of corporate growth with either productivity or profitability appear much weaker, if at all existent. This suggests that selection forces are much less strong than usually assumed. Rather, the links between efficiency and corporate growth seem profoundly mediated by large degrees of behavioural freedom. The results robustly applies across different industrial sectors and across the two countries. |
| Date: | 2009–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-00422142_v1&r=eff |
| By: | Navon, Guy |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the relationship between human capital spillovers and productivity using a unique longitudinal matched employer–employee dataset of Israeli manufacturing plants that contains individual records on all plant employees. I focus on the within-plant diversity of employees’ higher-education diplomas (university degrees). The variance decomposition shows that most knowledge diversity takes place within the industries. Using a semi-parametric approach, the study finds that hiring workers who are diversified in their specific knowledge is beneficial for plants’ productivity—the knowledge-diversity elasticity is about 0.2–0.25 and is robust—and that the benefit of knowledge diversity increase with the size of the plant. This suggests that for each allocation of labor in the production process it is beneficial for plants to diversify their skilled labor. The findings also suggest that the conventional way of estimating plant-level production function using Ordinary Least Squares or Fixed-Effects method is biased upward due to simultaneity of the inputs and the unobserved productivity shock. |
| Keywords: | human capital; spillovers; within; firm; plant; guy; navon; pakes; levinsohn; petrin; poi; olley |
| JEL: | J41 E24 J31 J24 D24 J82 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17741&r=eff |
| By: | Veronica González (Office of Evaluation and Oversight, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, USA); Pedro Sandra Rozo (Office of Evaluation and Oversight, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, USA); Alessandro Maffioli (Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, USA); Pablo Ibarrarán (Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, USA) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the impact of agricultural extension services in the Dominican Republic. In particular, we analyze the direct impact of the Program for Technological Support in the Agricultural Sector (PATCA). The analysis relies on a unique dataset gathered by PATCA’s executing unit in 2008. The survey included 1,572 farmers operating in crop growing, breeding or milk production. Using a propensity score matching technique, we found that the technologies financed through PATCA effectively improved the productivity of rice producers and breeders. However, we did not find any significant impact on other producers. These heterogeneous impacts could be due to the different level of effectiveness of the promoted technologies in the short run, where landleveling and pasture conservation could be the fastest in showing significant effects. Finally, we did not find any clear evidence that the program had a significant impact on the quality of production that was reflected on prices reported by farmers. |
| Keywords: | Technology Adoption, Productivity, Agriculture Sector, Policy Evaluation |
| JEL: | Q12 Q16 H43 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:ovewps:0509&r=eff |
| By: | Christian Arndt; Claudia Buch; Anselm Mattes |
| Abstract: | Exporters and multinationals are larger and more productive than their domestic counterparts. In addition to productivity, financial constraints and labor market constraints might constitute barriers to entry into foreign markets. We present new empirical evidence on the extensive and intensive margin of exports and FDI based on detailed micro-level data of German firms. Our paper has three main findings. First, in line with earlier literature, we find a positive impact of firm size and productivity on firms’ international activities. Second, small firms suffer more frequently from financial constraints than bigger firms, but financial conditions have no strong effect on internationalization. Third, labor market constraints constitute a more severe barrier to foreign activities than financial constraints. Being covered by collective bargaining particularly impedes international activities. |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investment, exports, firm heterogeneity, productivity,financial constraints, labor market constraints |
| JEL: | F2 G2 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaw:iawdip:52&r=eff |
| By: | Pedro Cerdan-Infantes (Office of Evaluation and Oversight, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, USA); Alessandro Maffioli (Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, USA); Diego Ubfal (Department of Economics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of the ‘Farm Modernization and Development Program’ (PREDEG) on the technology uptake and productivity of Uruguayan farmers. Using a unique panel dataset, we combine propensity score matching techniques and fixed effects models to estimate the program’s impact. Although the results vary according to the crops, we find consistent evidence that the program increased the rate of adoption of certified varieties and the density of plantation. However, there is only limited evidence of its effects on productivity, mostly derived from helping producers to cope with an illness of peach orchards. Conversely, we find some indications of negative lagged productivity effects for apples, which might be related to a short term cost of transitioning to new varieties or technologies. While the evidence of the effects on yields is not definitive due to the limited timeframe of the evaluation, the results indicate that PREDEG services were useful for incentivizing the adoption of specific technologies, as well as for crop-specific technical assistance like plant health. |
| Keywords: | PREDEG, Uruguay, Agricultural Technology Transfer, Panel Data, Policy Evaluation |
| JEL: | Q12 Q16 H43 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:ovewps:0309&r=eff |
| By: | Rivera, Rene (Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Xochimilco); Sampedro, Jose Luis (Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Xochimilco); Dutrenit, Gabriela (UNU-MERIT, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Xochimilco); Ekboir, Javier Mario; Vera-Cruz, Alexandre O. (UNU-MERIT, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Xochimilco) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the effect of commercial farmers-academic researchers linkages on research productivity in fields related to agriculture. Using original data and econometric analysis, our findings show a positive and significant relationship between intensive linkages with a small number of commercial farmers and research productivity, when this is defined as publications in ISI journals. This evidence seems contrary to other contributions that argue that strong ties with the business sector reduce research productivity and distort the original purposes of university, i.e., conducting basic research and preparing highly-trained professionals. When research productivity is defined more broadly adding other types of research outputs, the relationship is also positive and significant confirming the argument that close ties between public research institutions and businesses foster the emergence of new ideas that can be translated into innovations with commercial and/or social value. Another important finding is that researchers in public institutions produce several types of research outputs; therefore, measuring research productivity only by published ISI papers misses important dimensions of research activities. |
| Keywords: | agriculture sector, research productivity, university-business sector interaction, university-industry collaboration |
| JEL: | O31 O32 Q16 Q18 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2009038&r=eff |
| By: | Andrés Erosa (IMDEA Ciencias Sociales); Tatyana Koreshkova (Concordia University and CIREQ); Diego Restuccia (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | We develop a quantitative theory of human capital investments in order to evaluate the magnitude of cross-country differences in total factor productivity (TFP) that explains the variation in per-capita incomes across countries. We build a heterogeneous-agent economy with cross-sectional variation in ability, schooling, and expenditures on schooling quality. By embedding our analysis in a growth model with tradable and non-tradable sectors, we model sectorial productivity differences across countries, as documented in Hsieh and Klenow (2007). The parameters governing human capital production and random ability and taste processes are restricted by a set of cross-sectional data moments such as variances and intergenerational correlations of earnings and schooling, as well as slope coefficient and R2 in a Mincer regression. Our main finding is that human capital accumulation strongly amplifies TFP differences across countries: To explain a 20-fold difference in the output per worker the model requires a 5-fold difference in the TFP of the tradable sector, versus an 18-fold difference if human capital is fixed across countries. Moreover, we find that sectorial productivity differences play a prominent role in quantitative implications of the theory. |
| Date: | 2009–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2009-11&r=eff |
| By: | R. Antonietti; G. Cainelli |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:prinwp:007&r=eff |
| By: | Marin, Giovanni; Mazzanti, Massimiliano |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new empirical evidence on delinking / Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKC) for greenhouse gases and other air pollutant emissions in Italy. We analysed a panel dataset based on the Italian NAMEA for 1990-2005 with a specific focus on industry. We integrated the emission-income NAMEA with data on trade openness and R&D expenditures. The highly disaggregated dataset provides a large heterogeneity and can help to overcome the shortcomings of the usual approach to EKC based on cross-country data. We use in this paper CO2, SOx, NOx and PM10 as objects of investigation. We use as empirical models of reference both a standard EKC model and a STIRPAT/IPAT model. Our results show that looking at sector evidence, both decupling and then eventually re-coupling trends could emerge along the path of economic development. The analysis of how stagnation periods affect environmental performances is also of interest. |
| Keywords: | NAMEA; trade openness; labour productivity; EKC; STIRPAT |
| JEL: | Q55 C23 Q56 O40 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17536&r=eff |
| By: | Pedro R.D. Bom (Tilburg University); Jenny E. Ligthart (International Studies Program. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University) |
| Abstract: | The last two decades have witnessed a great deal of effort devoted to measuring the private output elasticity of public capital, but remarkably little consensus has emerged. This paper estimates the meta-output elasticity of public capital and explains the heterogeneity of primary estimates around this value. We develop a simple approach to measure and correct meta-estimates for bidirectional publication bias. Using meta-regression analysis applied to a sample of 67 studies for the 1983{2008 period, we derive an unconditional meta-output estimate of 0.146 and show that the `true' effect is rather heterogeneous. The intraregional short-run output elasticity amounts to 0.085. In the long run, and after accounting for interregional spillover effects, the contribution of public capital to output increases by a factor of three. The results suggest that the high output elasticities found in the early time-series literature are compatible with long-run (cointegrating) estimates found more recently. We also show that the observed estimates are significantly inflated by bidirectional publication bias. |
| Keywords: | Direct public capital, infrastructure, public investment, meta-analysis, meta-regression analysis, (nonlinear) publication bias |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper0912&r=eff |