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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2014‒02‒21
twelve papers chosen by |
| By: | Jean-Philippe Boussemart (University of Lille 3 and IESEG School of Management (LEM-CNRS)); Hervé Leleu (CNRS-LEM and IESEG School of Management); Edward Mensah (University of Illinois at Chicago and IESEG-School of Management) |
| Abstract: | This study estimates productivity gains and their distribution among inputs and outputs for American industries over the period 1987-2011 using the traditional surplus accounting method. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) change is traditionally defined as the growth rate of output minus the growth rate of inputs. Since TFP changes determine welfare via price variations, a key issue is to assess which of the inputs and outputs recover price advantages. |
| Keywords: | Surplus Accounting Method, Total Factor Productivity, Factor Income, Distribution, Index Numbers |
| JEL: | C43 D24 D33 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ies:wpaper:e201402&r=eff |
| By: | Ghosal, Vivek (Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta), European Business School (Wiesbaden), and CESifo (Munich).); Stephan , Andreas (CESIS Stockholm and Jönköping International Business School); Weiss, Jan (Jönköping International Business School) |
| Abstract: | Using a unique plant-level dataset we examine green productivity growth in Sweden’s heavily regulated pulp and paper industry, which has historically been a significant contributor to air and water pollution. Our exercise is interesting as Sweden has a unique regulatory structure where plants have to comply with national environmental regulatory standards and enforcement, along with decentralised plant-specific regulations. In our analysis, we use the sequential Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index which accounts for air and water pollutants as undesirable outputs. Some of our key findings are: (1) regulation has stimulated technical change related to pollution control, and has induced plants to catch up with the best-practice technology frontier with regard to effluent abatement; (2) large plants are more heavily regulated than small plants; (3) plants in environmentally less sensitive areas or those with local importance as employer face relatively lenient regulatory constraints; (4) environmental regulations trigger localized knowledge spillovers between nearby plants, boosting their green TFP growth. |
| Keywords: | TFP; DEA; Sequential Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index; pulp and paper industry; pollution; environmental regulations; enforcement; plant-specific regulation; productivity; Porter hypothesis |
| JEL: | D24 L51 L60 Q52 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0342&r=eff |
| By: | Rulof P. Burger (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch); Francis J. Teal (Centre for Studies of African Economics, University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Schooling is typically found to be highly correlated with individual earnings in African countries. However, African firm or sector level studies have failed to identify a similarly strong effect for average worker schooling levels on productivity. This has been interpreted as evidence that schooling does not increase productivity levels, but may also indicate that the schooling effect cannot be identified when using a schooling measure with limited variation. Using a novel South African industry-level dataset that spans a longer period than typical firm-level panels, this paper identifies a large and significant schooling effect. This result is highly robust across different estimators that allow for correlated industry effects, measurement error, heterogeneous production technologies and cross-sectional dependence. |
| Keywords: | Returns to schooling, human capital, labour demand, panel data econometrics, South Africa |
| JEL: | J24 D24 C23 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers209&r=eff |
| By: | Gu, Wulong Lafrance, Amelie |
| Abstract: | This paper examines two aspects of productivity growth in Canada's broadcasting and telecommunications industry. The first is the extent to which aggregate MFP growth in the sector came from scale economies as opposed to technical progress. The second is the extent to which aggregate labour productivity growth and MFP growth came from within-firm growth, and from the effect of reallocation due to firm entry and exit and within incumbents' the dynamic forces associated with competitive change. |
| Keywords: | Information and communications technology, Economic accounts, Telecommunications industries, Information and communications technology sector, Productivity accounts |
| Date: | 2014–02–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp5e:2014089e&r=eff |
| By: | Andersson, Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University); Gråsjö, Urban (University West); Karlsson, Charlie (Jönköping International Business School, and Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS)) |
| Abstract: | Multinational firms (MNFs) have been shown to have a set of defining characteristics. Compared to domestic firms, they have a larger fraction of skilled workers, higher R&D to sales ratios and established networks to knowledge sources in several different countries. As illustrated by the so-called ‘anchor-tenant’ hypothesis, they can be described as “knowledge spillover agents”. MNF affiliates, as defined in this paper, are firms that are part of large domestic and foreign MNFs. In this paper we test whether the local presence of MNF affiliates generate spillover effects on the local industry. The empirical analysis focuses on as¬sessing whether the productivity of the regional manufacturing industry of non-affiliated firms is higher in regions with a large fraction of MNF affiliates. The analysis uses data on Swedish firms and is conducted on regional level as well as on firm level. The regressions show that local presence of MNFs in a region has a positive effect on Gross Regional Product (GRP) from non-MNFs. The paper also shows that regions where the low-productive non-MNFs are located appear to benefit the most from local presence of MNFs. The MNFs have, on the other hand, no effect on non-MNF productivity in regions where the high-productive non-MNFs are located. |
| Keywords: | Multinational firms; affiliates; productivity; R&D; knowledge; spillovers; skilled workers; region |
| JEL: | F23 J24 O33 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–02–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0343&r=eff |
| By: | Hottenrott, Hanna; Lawson, Cornelia (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically investigates complementarities between different sources of research funding with regard to academic publishing. We find for a sample of UK engineering academics that competitive funding is associated with an increase in ex-post publications but that industry funding decreases the marginal utility of public funding by lowering the publication and citation rate increases associated with public grants. However, when holding all other explanatory variables at their mean, the negative effect of the interaction does not translate into an effective decrease in publication and citation numbers. The paper also shows that the positive effect of public funding is driven by UK research council and charity grants and that EU funding has no significant effect on publication outcomes. |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201318&r=eff |
| By: | Serguey Braguinsky; Atsushi Ohyama; Tetsuji Okazaki; Chad Syverson |
| Abstract: | We explore how changes in ownership and managerial control affect the productivity and profitability of producers. Using detailed operational, financial, and ownership data from the Japanese cotton spinning industry at the turn of the last century, we find a more nuanced picture than the straightforward “higher productivity buys lower productivity” story commonly appealed to in the literature. Acquired firms’ production facilities were not on average less physically productive than the plants of the acquiring firms before acquisition, conditional on operating. They were much less profitable, however, due to consistently higher inventory levels and lower capacity utilization—differences which reflected problems in managing the uncertainties of demand. When purchased by more profitable firms, these less profitable acquired plants saw drops in inventories and gains in capacity utilization that raised both their productivity and profitability levels, consistent with acquiring owner/managers spreading their better demand management abilities across the acquired capital. |
| JEL: | D2 G3 L2 L6 O3 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19901&r=eff |
| By: | Wagner, Joachim (Leuphana University Lueneburg and CESIS, Stockholm) |
| Abstract: | A stylized fact from the emerging literature on the micro-econometrics of international trade and a central implication of the heterogeneous firm models from the new new trade theory is that exporters are more productive than non-exporters. However, many firms from the lower end of the productivity distribution are exporters. Germany is a case in point. A recent study reports that these low-productivity exporters are not marginal exporters defined according to the share of exports in total sales, or export participation over time, or the number of goods exported, or the number of countries exported to. This paper documents that low-productive exporters are competitive because they export high-quality goods. The quality of exports is much higher among exporters from the lower end of the productivity distribution than among highly productive exporters. |
| Keywords: | Exports; productivity; low-productive exporters; export quality |
| JEL: | F14 |
| Date: | 2014–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0341&r=eff |
| By: | Aguilar, Arturo; Carranza, Eliana; Goldstein, Markus; Kilic, Talip; Oseni, Gbemisola |
| Abstract: | This paper employs decomposition methods to analyze differences in agricultural productivity between male and female land managers in Ethiopia. It employs data from the 2011-2012 Ethiopian Rural Socioeconomic Survey. An overall 23.4 percent gender differential in agricultural productivity is estimated at the mean in favor of male land managers, of which 10.1 percentage points are explained by differences in land manager characteristics, land attributes, and unequal access to resources (the endowment effect). The remaining 13.4 percentage points are explained by unequal returns to productive components, but cannot be easily tied to specific covariates. These results are mainly driven by non-married female managers (mainly single and divorced). Married female managers do not display such disadvantages. Further analysis along the productivity distribution reveals that gender differentials are more pronounced at mid-levels of productivity and that the share of the gender gap explained by the endowment effect declines as productivity increases. Detailed decomposition of estimates at selected points of the agricultural productivity distribution provides valuable information for policy intervention purposes. |
| Keywords: | Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Gender and Development,Housing&Human Habitats,Labor Policies,Gender and Health |
| Date: | 2014–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6764&r=eff |
| By: | Federica Rossi (Birkbeck, University of London) |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:img:wpaper:16&r=eff |
| By: | Wided Bouaine; Lanouar Charfeddine; Mohamed Arouri; Frédéric Teulon |
| Abstract: | This paper uses panel data from 271 U.S. firms to empirically examine the relationship between the departure of a firm’s CEO and that firm’s performance. Results of our analysis reveal a significant relationship between CEO departure type and firm performance. Specifically, we found that the departure of entrenched CEOs negatively affects current and future firm performance. Results also demonstrate that board size and the presence of independent administrators moderates the relationship between CEO departure type and firm performance. This suggests that entrenched CEOs can have informal associations with independent administrators. |
| Keywords: | departure type, current and future performance, board independence,entrenchment. |
| Date: | 2014–02–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-087&r=eff |
| By: | Liang, Lin; Lin, Shanglang; Li, Yong |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically tests the effect of financial knowledge spillovers on agglomeration in China's financial services industry and examines the external effects on cities' economies. The authors apply hierarchical linear modeling to examine a data set that comprises 276 Chinese cities and draw the following conclusions. Firstly, they find that agglomeration in the financial services industry and the Jacobs spillovers of industry diversification both promote financial knowledge spillovers in terms of industry specialization. Secondly, agglomeration in this studied industry has a significant positive influence on a city's economic growth, while financial knowledge spillovers have a significant but negative effect on a city's economic growth. Thirdly, the tendency towards agglomeration in the financial services industry in a few major cities is clear and the clustering significantly influences cities' boundaries. Finally, China's financial services industry is limited by a serious degree of regulation and is dominated by the main banking institutions. -- |
| Keywords: | financial services industry agglomeration,industry specialization,knowledge spillovers,city economies,hierarchical linear modeling |
| JEL: | G20 O4 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:20146&r=eff |