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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2018‒09‒17
38 papers chosen by |
| By: | Ang, Frederic; Kerstens, Pieter Jan |
| Abstract: | Abstract. This paper introduces a dynamic Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen (LHM) productivity indicator that takes into account the adjustment costs of changing the level of quasi-fixed capital inputs. Being additively complete in the dynamic sense, the LHM indicator is decomposed into contributions of outputs, variable inputs and investments in dynamic factors. Moreover, we decompose the LHM indicator into technical change, technical inefficiency change and scale ineffi-ciency change using an investment-, output- and input-direction. Employing a nonparametric framework, the empirical application focuses on the dairy sector in South West England over the period 2001 − 2014. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260831&r=eff |
| By: | Amondo, E.; Simtowe, F. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of adopting drought tolerant maize varieties (DTMVs) on farm productivity and risk exposure using a moment based approach on households growing maize in Zambia. First, second and third moments of farm production were used in estimations. The study applied an endogenous switching regression model that controls for both observed and unobserved sources of heterogeneity between adopters and non-adopters. The study revealed that the adoption of DTMVs increases maize yield, reduces yield variability and exposure to downside risk significantly. The adoption of DTMVs increased maize yield by 8% while reducing yield variance and the risk of crop failure by 35% and 27%, respectively. These results underscore the need for concerted efforts to scale-out the production of DTMVs for both maize productivity enhancement as well as for risk mitigation against climatic shocks. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276049&r=eff |
| By: | Morais, G.; Braga, J.M. |
| Abstract: | The main goal of this paper is to evaluate how irrigated areas with flooding, furrows, sprinkler, centralpivot, drip and other methods of irrigation as well as the source of water used to irrigation influence the technical efficiency. Furthermore, we evaluate the behavior of the technical efficiency by farm size. The TE scores are obtained through the Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA), which simultaneously models the production technical inefficiency. The results showed that, initially, there is a positive and linear relationship between efficiency and farm size, however, when the farms reaches 100 hectares the relationship becomes inverse, characterizing U-inverted shape. In general, the irrigated areas with different methods of irrigation and the source of the water have a positive influence on the technical efficiency of farmers. Other factors such as cooperatives membership, education, experience and rural credit also have a positive influence on efficiency. Finally, we conclude that large farmers are less efficient than small-scale farmers. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:275987&r=eff |
| By: | Manabu Nose |
| Abstract: | After a decade of rapid growth, industrialization has lost ground with shrinking manufacturing sector and high informality in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper explores how land market and labor regulations affect factor allocative efficiency and firm performance in SSA. Using pooled data on firm balance sheets for 40 countries in SSA, the results identify significant land and labor misallocations due to limited market allocation of land and inappropriate regulatory policies. Using variations in ethnic diversity and the intensity of regulatory actions to peer firms at subnational level as instrumental variables, local average treatment effects show large productivity gains from factor reallocations, especially for marginally productive firms. Panel data results for Nigerian firms confirm factor market inefficiency as a principal driver of declining productivity, while showing that the 2011 minimum wage reform increased firm size. The results imply that improving formal regulation is critical to support firm growth at the stage of weak legal capacity, while informal sector monitoring gets effective as legal capacity develops. |
| Keywords: | Africa;Firm growth, misallocation, land market, labor regulations, Labor Economics Policies, Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure, Labor Standards: Public Policy |
| Date: | 2018–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:18/184&r=eff |
| By: | Emin Dinlersoz; Zoltan Wolf |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on the plant-level relationship between automation, labor and capital usage, and productivity. The evidence, based on the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey on Manufacturing Technology, indicates that more automated establishments have lower production labor share and higher capital share, and a smaller fraction of workers in production who receive higher wages. These establishments also have higher labor productivity and experience larger long-term labor share declines. The relationship between automation and relative factor usage is modelled using a CES production function with endogenous technology choice. This deviation from the standard Cobb-Douglas assumption is necessary if the within-industry differences in the capital-labor ratio are determined by relative input price differences. The CES-based total factor productivity estimates are signi cantly different from the ones derived under Cobb-Douglas production and positively related to automation. The results, taken together with earlier findings of the productivity literature, suggest that the adoption of automation may be one mechanism associated with the rise of superstar firms. |
| Keywords: | advanced manufacturing technology, automation, technology choice, total factor productivity, capital-labor substitution, labor share, CES production function, productivity estimation, robots |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:18-39&r=eff |
| By: | Simioni, Michel; Huiban, Jean Pierre; Mastromarco, Camilla; Musolesi, Antonio |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of pollution abatement investments on the production technology of firms by pursuing two new directions. First, we take advantage of recent econometric developments in productivity and eciency analysis and compare the results obtained with two complementary approaches: parametric stochastic frontier analysis and conditional nonparametric frontier analysis. Second, we focus not only on the average eect but also on its heterogeneity across rms and over time and search for potential nonlinearities. We provide new results suggesting that such an eect is heterogeneous both within rms and over time and indicating that the eect of pollution abatement investments on the production process is not monotonic. These results have relevant implications both for modeling and for the purposes of advice on environmentally friendly policy. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260833&r=eff |
| By: | Latruffe, Laure; Dakpo, K.Hervé; Desjeux, Yann; Justinia Hanitravelo, Giffona |
| Abstract: | With a sample of farms in the European Union (EU) and Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data completed by additionally collected data, we illustrate how the effect of farm subsidies on technical efficiency changes when environmental outputs are incorporated in the calculation of technical efficiency. Results indicate that the effect of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) operational subsidies on farm technical efficiency changes when environmental outputs (namely greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen balance and ecological focus areas) are taken into account in the efficiency calculation: some effects change significance, and more importantly, some effects change sign. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260902&r=eff |
| By: | Van Meensel, Jef; Lauwers, Ludwig; Bijttebier, Jo; Hamerlinck, Jolien |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the competitiveness of low input dairy farms. Efficiency scores and underlying key performance indicators are used to compare the performance of low input and conventional farms in Europe and to account for regional differences. Results show that low input dairy farms can be competitive with conventional ones, but regional differences exist. In order to be competitive, low input farms should transform their external inputs, land, labour and cows into milk revenues more technically efficiently compared to conventional farms, because they use inputs in a less cost minimizing proportion compared to conventional farms. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260901&r=eff |
| By: | Hockmann, Heinrich; Garzon Delvaux, Pedro Andres; Voigt, Peter; Ciaian, Pavel; Gomez y Paloma, Sergio |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of corporate research and development (R&D) on firm performance in the foodprocessing industry. We apply Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with two step bootstrapping using a corporate data for 307 food-processing firms from the EU, US, Canada and Japan for the period 1991–2009. The estimates suggest that R&D has a positive effect on the firms’ performance, with marginal gains decreasing in the R&D level as well as the performance differences are detected across regions and food sectors. R&D investments in food processing can deliver productivity gains, beyond the high-tech sectors generally favoured by innovation policy. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261274&r=eff |
| By: | Johannes Boehm; Ezra Oberfield |
| Abstract: | The strength of contract enforcement determines how firms source inputs and organize production. Using microdata on Indian manufacturing plants, we show that production and sourcing decisions appear systematically distorted in states with weaker enforcement. Specifically, we document that in industries that tend to rely more heavily on relationship-specific intermediate inputs, plants in states with more congested courts shift their expenditures away from intermediate inputs and appear to be more vertically integrated. To quantify the impact of these distortions on aggregate productivity, we construct a model in which plants have several ways of producing, each with different bundles of inputs. Weak enforcement exacerbates a holdup problem that arises when using inputs that require customization, distorting both the intensive and extensive margins of input use. The equilibrium organization of production and the network structure of input-output linkages arise endogenously from the producers' simultaneous cost minimization decisions. We identify the structural parameters that govern enforcement frictions from cross-state variation in the first moments of producers' cost shares. A set of counterfactuals show that enforcement frictions lower aggregate productivity to an extent that is relevant on the macro scale. |
| JEL: | E23 F12 O11 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24937&r=eff |
| By: | Baldoni, Edoardo; Coderoni, Silvia; Esposti, Roberto |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to assess whether and to what extent the farm-level productivity performance (measured by Total Factor Productivity, TFP) affects the farm-level environmental performance. In particular, the attention focuses on GHG emissions expressed by the farm’s Carbon Footprint (CF). The relationship occurring between these two performance indicators is investigated on a panel of Lombardy farms observed from 2008 to 2013. Once the TFP and the CF have been measured using farm-level data, a dynamic panel model is specified and estimated (via GMM estimation). The dynamic specification allows to take the time dependence of TFP into account while a polynomial form and group-specific effects allow for a specific TFP-CF nexus across heterogeneous farms in terms of size and specialization. Results confirm that a TFP-CF nexus exists but it may significantly differ and also be conflicting across farm typologies. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260895&r=eff |
| By: | Hao, Jinghui; Heerink, Nico; Heijman, Wim; Bijman, Jos |
| Abstract: | Cooperatives are regarded as an institutional vehicle to help farmers mitigate market imperfections and improve smallholder welfare. Though much research has been done on what effect cooperatives have on farmers’ welfare, the question of how cooperatives affect farmers’ welfare remains largely unanswered. By using the case of apple farmers in China, we seek to answer this question by examining the effect of cooperative membership on yield and profit. The empirical analysis is based on field survey data collected among 551 apple farm households in Shaanxi and Shandong. An endogenous treatment regression model is employed to assess the average treatment effects of cooperative membership on the yield and profits per unit area. Our research shows that cooperative membership has a significantly positive effect on yields, but no significant effect on profits per unit area. Two pathways explain the different effects. First, cooperative services change members’ production practices, especially the use of inputs that lead to higher land productivity. Second, members on average spend more on fertilizers and use more hired labor than non-members, which results in higher production costs. The extra revenues generated by the increased yields roughly compensates the extra production costs of the members. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260914&r=eff |
| By: | Alem, Habtamu; Lien, Gudbrand; Hardaker, J. Brian; Guttormsen, Atle |
| Abstract: | This paper compares technical efficiencies (TEs) and technological gap ratios (TGRs) for dairy farms in the Norwegian regions accounting for differences in working environments. We used the 'true' random effect model of Greene (2005) and the stochastic metafrontier approach by Huang et al. (2014) to estimate TEs and TGRs. The dataset used was farm-level balanced panel data for 23 years (1992-2014) with 5442 observations from 731 dairy firms. The results of the analysis provide empirical evidence of small regional differences in technical efficiencies, technological gap ratios, and input use. Thus, an assumption about joint underlying technology across regions seems to be quite reasonable, since our results implies that the policies in place are working effectively to keep relatively disadvantaged producers in the business. Further, the results may provide some support for the more region-specific agricultural policies, in terms of support schemes and structural regulations. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260906&r=eff |
| By: | Blattner, Laura (Stanford University); Farinha, Luisa (Bank of Portugal); Rebelo, Francisco (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence that a weak banking sector contributed to low productivity following the European debt crisis. An unexpected increase in capital requirements provides a natural experiment to study the effects of reduced capital adequacy on productivity. Affected banks respond by cutting lending but also by reallocating credit to distressed firms with underreported loan losses. We develop a method to detect underreported losses using loan-level data. We show that the credit reallocation leads to a reallocation of production factors across firms. We find that the resulting factor misallocation accounts for 20% of the decline in productivity in Portugal in 2012. |
| JEL: | D24 E44 E51 G21 G28 O47 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:3688&r=eff |
| By: | Bareille, Francois; Dupraz, Pierre |
| Abstract: | Previous studies on the productive value of biodiversity emphasized that crop diversity increases crop yields. Here, we focus on the productivity of crop diversity and permanent grasslands for crops and milk. Using a GMM approach, we estimate detailed production functions using a sample of 3960 mixed farms from the FADN between 2002 and 2013. We highlight that permanent grasslands enhance crop production. We confirm that crop diversity increases crop and milk yields. Permanent grasslands and crop diversity are however substitute inputs. We also find that both of these biodiversity productive capacities influence variable input productivities. These results suggest the potential adaptations of farmers’ choices to environmental measures. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261288&r=eff |
| By: | Dudu, Hasan; Smeets Kristkova, Zuzana |
| Abstract: | The impact of agricultural subsidies on productivity has long been discussed in the literature without any clear conclusions. Many studies attempted to shed light on the topic by using various methods and data (mostly relying on geographically limited farm-level data). Depending on the model specification, statistical method and data source mixed results are reported. This study aims at estimating the impact of common agricultural policy Pillar II payments on agricultural productivity by using NUTS-2 (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) level data for the years 2007-2013 for the European Union member state countries. We use a rather novel approach by simultaneously estimating a Constant Elasticity of Supply production function with productivity coefficients linked to the Pillar II payments. We use 4 categories of Pillar II payments (i.e. human capital, physical capital, agro-environmental and rural development) to explain the total factor productivity in agricultural sector. Our results suggest that regions receiving higher Pillar II payments for physical capital investments, human capital development or agro-environmental measures increase productivity. On the other hand, payments related to rural development do not have significant impact on productivity. The results do not change among the member states, date of access to the European Union (i.e. old or new member states), spatial characteristics (i.e. being in the south, north or east) or size of the countries (i.e. big or small economies). |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261171&r=eff |
| By: | Guth, Marta Joanna; Czyżewski, Bazyli; Matuszczak, Anna |
| Abstract: | Facing the opinion about the ambiguous impact of decoupled subsidies on productivity, the article aims to check whether there are some CAP programmes contributing to the ‘greening’ trend, which have a positive impact on productivity in FADN regions. A two-stage panel analysis was carried out in the years 2007–2012: in the first stage clusters of regions with significantly different farming were identified; in the second the impact of particular CAP mechanisms on productivity was determined. It is concluded that, depending on the sustainability of farming, there are some CAP ‘green’ programmes which have a positive influence on productivity. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261420&r=eff |
| By: | Bertoni, Danilo; Cavicchioli, Daniele; Latruffe, Laure |
| Abstract: | We analyse whether the event of succession changes the performance of Italian family farms, using data from the Italian Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and several performance indicators during 2008-2014. T-tests of equality of means and propensity score matching reveal that succession has a negative effect on performance related to capital, due to an increase in capital after succession. Furthermore, in the first years examined, performance per hectare after succession is lower for farms with succession than for farms without. This negative effect of succession on performance per hectare is not systematically confirmed when performance is related per labour unit. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261435&r=eff |
| By: | Assima, Amidou; Haggblade, Steven; Smale, Melinda |
| Abstract: | Rapid growth in private sector herbicide imports has led to a dramatic rise in use of commercial herbicides by Malian smallholder farmers. Given weak regulatory capacity to monitor markets, the recent proliferation in herbicide products and brands has been accompanied by widespread sales of unregistered products. We test the effects of herbicides applied to Mali’s major dryland cereals, sorghum and maize, on yield and labor productivity, differentiated by gender and age. We employ a multivalued treatment model with data collected from 623 households and 1273 plots. Findings show negative effects of unregistered herbicides on yields. In contrast, the use of registered herbicides enhances labor productivity of adult male and children. However, we find no significant effects on registered herbicides on yields or labor productivity of women. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2017–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:259563&r=eff |
| By: | Guesmi, Bouali; Gil, Jose Maria |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this article is to assess the impact of public agricultural research effort on agricultural total factor productivity in Catalonia. A complementary approach based on accounting and econometric techniques is applied to annual data over the period 1985–2015 to fit the relationship between agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) and agriculture research spending. The results show that TFP grows on average at an annual rate less than one percent. TFP growth was much faster during the tow first decades of the analysis, with a considerable slowdown in the last decade. Our empirical findings indicate that public agricultural research has statistically significant positive impact on Catalan agricultural productivity. Furthermore, from a cost–benefit perspective, our study reveals that the social marginal annualized real rate of return to public resources invested in agricultural research is about 15–28%. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261279&r=eff |
| By: | Orazio Attanasio (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Sarah Cattan (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Emla Fitzsimons (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute of Education, University of London); Costas Meghir (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Yale University); Marta Rubio Codina (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | We examine the channels through which a randomized early childhood intervention in Colombia led to signi cant gains in cognitive and socio-emotional skills among a sample of disadvantaged children aged 12 to 24 months at baseline. We estimate the determinants of parents' material and time investments in these children and evaluate the impact of the treatment on such investments. We then estimate the production functions for cognitive and socio-emotional skills. The effects of the program can be explained by increases in parental investments, emphasizing the importance of parenting interventions at an early age. An earlier version of this working paper is available here. |
| Date: | 2018–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:18/18&r=eff |
| By: | Dany Bahar (Center for International Development at Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Using a worldwide firm-level panel dataset I document a "U-shaped" relationship between productivity growth and baseline levels within each country and industry. That is, fast productivity growth is concentrated at both ends of the productivity distribution. This result serves as a potential explanation to two stylized facts documented in the economic literature: the rising productivity dispersion within narrowly defined sectors, and the increasing market share of few yet highly productive firms. |
| Keywords: | productivity, convergence, divergence, dispersion |
| JEL: | D2 O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cid:wpfacu:87a&r=eff |
| By: | Alem, Habtamu1; Lien, Gudbrand1; Kumbhakar, Subal C1; Hardaker, J. Brian |
| Abstract: | The aim in this paper is to investigate economies of scale and scope among Norwegian dairy and crop producing farms, controlling for regional differences. Unlike previous studies in which a common technology was assumed, we estimate economies of scale and scope to account for different technologies for specialized and mixed (diversified) farms. Our analysis is based on translog cost functions using farm-level data for the period 1991-2014. The results suggest that both economies of scale and scope persist in Norwegian dairy and crop producing farms. We also find that dairy farms have an economic incentive to integrate dairy farming with crop production in all regions of Norway. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260907&r=eff |
| By: | Daniel Garces Diaz (Bank of Mexico) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the factors behind the evolving synchrony between U.S. and Mexican industries, specially since 2001, when U.S. manufacturing production began to stagnate. A stylized model is developed to explain the origin and evolution of the correlations at the zero and cyclical frequencies. TFP shocks cannot account for the changes in the relationship since 2001. They arose from an increase in the use of capital and intermediate inputs in Mexican manufacturing. The long-run correlations are closely related to the contributions of the different sectors to U.S. manufacturing production growth. For example, the Mexican manufacturing production index has its highest correlation with the U.S. semiconductors sector although the production of such goods is almost inexistent in Mexico. This suggests that the correlations reflect the response of the Mexican sectors to U.S. aggregate shocks, a hypothesis verified within a VAR analysis. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed018:41&r=eff |
| By: | Zheng Li (School of Economics and Finance, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China); Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State Univeristy) |
| Abstract: | Misallocation of factors of production has been recently viewed as a promising explanation accounting for the large difference in total factor productivity (TFP) across countries. This paper differs from previous studies by concentrating on interregional capital misallocation and by focusing on the role of fiscal decentralization in shaping misallocation. Using a municipal level panel data set, we measure intra-provincial and inter-municipal capital misallocation in China over 2003-2015. The empirical results based on provincial level panel data suggest that revenue decentralization mitigates interregional misallocation while expenditure decentralization fails to exert a significant impact. We further find that this positive effect is more significant and much larger when it is the market rather than government intervention that is driving the flow of capital. The results are robust to different specifications, IV estimations and alternative measurement of interregional misallocation. Our study complements the literature on the causes of misallocation and enriches the understanding of the consequences of fiscal decentralization, especially in terms of economic growth and interregional inequality. |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1816&r=eff |
| By: | Lusine Lusinyan |
| Abstract: | The paper uses a supply-side framework based on a production function approach to assess the role of structural reforms in boosting long-term GDP growth in Argentina. The impact of product, labor, trade, and tax reforms on each supply-side channel—capital accumulation, labor utilization, and total factor productivity, proxied with an efficiency estimate—is assessed separately and then combined to derive the total impact on growth. The largest effect of structural reforms, involving regulatory changes that promote competition and facilitate flexible forms of employment, comes through the productivity/efficiency channel. Pro-competition regulation also improves labor utilization, while lower entry barriers and trade tariffs are important for capital accumulation. Structural reforms could have substantial effects on Argentina’s long-term GDP growth; for example, an ambitious reform effort to improve business regulatory environment would add 1–1½ percent to average annual growth of GDP. |
| Keywords: | Argentina;Western Hemisphere;Economic growth; structural reforms; productivity; product market competition; labor market reforms; trade openness; Argentina, Economic growth, structural reforms, productivity, product market competition, labor market reforms, trade openness, General, International Business Cycles |
| Date: | 2018–08–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:18/183&r=eff |
| By: | Sidhoum, Amer Ait; Serra, Teresa |
| Date: | 2018–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa166:276184&r=eff |
| By: | Brown, Mark; Ferguson, Shon M.; Viju, Crina |
| Abstract: | We decompose the impact of trade reform on technology adoption and land use to study how aggregate changes were driven by reallocation versus within-farm adaptation. Using detailed census data covering over 30,000 farms in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada we find a range of new results. We find that the reform-induced shift from producing low-value to high-value crops for export, the adoption of new seeding technologies and reduction in summerfallow observed at the aggregate level between 1991 and 2001 were driven mainly by the within-farm effect. In the longer run, however, reallocation of land from shrinking and exiting farms to growing and new farms explains more than half of the aggregate changes in technology adoption and land use between 1991 and 2011. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2017–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:263492&r=eff |
| By: | Stefani, Gianluca; Gadanakis, Yiorgos; Lombardi, Ginevra Virginia; Tiberti, Marco |
| Abstract: | Evidence in the literature supports that farmers’ ability to choose the best available production technology is restricted when capital structure negatively influences farms’ financial performance. Therefore, empirical evidence is sought to provide an understanding of the relationship between capital structure and technical efficiency of Italian farms in a period of five years (2008 – 2013). It is concluded that significant improvements could be achieved for most of the farms in the sample by improving production and management practices. Furthermore, results provide an empirical support of the adjustment theory by showing a negative impact of debt to asset ratio to technical efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261156&r=eff |
| By: | Iwasaki, Ichiro; Kočenda, Evžen |
| Abstract: | Using a dataset of 126,591 service firms in 17 European emerging economies, this paper aims to estimate firm survivability in the years 2007–2015 and examine its determinants. We found that 31.3%, or 39,557 firms, failed during the observation period. At the same time, however, the failure risk greatly differed among regions, perhaps due to the remarkable gap in the progress of economic and political reforms. Moreover, the results of survival analysis revealed that large shareholding, labor productivity, and firm age played strong roles in preventing business failure beyond differences in regions and sectors. |
| Keywords: | European emerging economies, Service industry, Survival analysis, Cox proportional hazards model |
| JEL: | D22 G01 G33 L89 P34 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hitcei:2018-7&r=eff |
| By: | Nalivka, John S. |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2017–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao17:260524&r=eff |
| By: | Joseba Martinez (New York University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the extent to which automation can explain the observed fall in labor's share of income in the United States in the last 30 years. I model the production process as a set of tasks that can be performed by labor or automated machinery (capital). Aggregating over firms that operate capital with differing degrees of automation, total output of the economy is given by a Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) function, but with parameters determined endogenously by the distribution of automation technology across firms. This model of the aggregate production function can reconcile three important empirical findings on US production and growth that the canonical CES model cannot: declining labor shares, aggregate capital-labor complementarity, and capital-biased technical progress. Using industry-level data, including a novel measure of aggregate task inputs into production, I find evidence that automation was a significant driving force of the US labor share between 1972-2010. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed018:736&r=eff |
| By: | Gabriele Ciminelli; Romain A Duval; Davide Furceri |
| Abstract: | Labor market deregulation, intended to boost productivity and employment, is one plausible, yet little studied, driver of the decline in labor shares that took place across most advanced economies since the early 1990s. This paper assesses the impact of job protection deregulation in a sample of 26 advanced economies over the period 1970-2015, using a newly constructed dataset of major reforms to employment protection legislation for regular contracts. We apply the local projection method to estimate the dynamic response of the labor share to our reform events at both the country and the country-industry levels. For the latter, we employ a differences-in-differences identification strategy using two identifying assumptions grounded in theory—namely that job protection deregulation should have larger negative effects in industries characterized by (i) a higher “natural” propensity to adjust the workforce, and (ii) a lower elasticity of substitution between capital and labor. We find a statistically significant, economically large and robust negative effect of deregulation on the labor share. In particular, illustrative back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that job protection deregulation may have contributed about 15 percent to the average labor share decline in advanced economies. Together with existing evidence regarding the macroeconomic gains from job protection and other labor market reforms, our results also point to the need for policymakers to address efficiency-equity trade-offs when designing such reforms. |
| Date: | 2018–08–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:18/186&r=eff |
| By: | Bostian, AJ; Bostian, Moriah; Laukkanen, Marita; Simola, Antti Mikko |
| Abstract: | Environmental management practices for mitigating nutrient runo aect the productivity of agricultural land. Finland's agricultural policy oers a number of such practices, and we use Finnish grain farms as a case study of these productivity impacts. Productivity is endogenous with adoption when decisionmakers can choose from a menu of policy options, but few studies actually address this endogeneity. Our identication strategy thus involves a novel approach for correcting endogeneity, combining classic methods from stochastic frontier analysis and selection models. Using registry data from 2007-2013, we nd that the more ecient farms are also more likely to enroll in management practices. Standard estimates without the endogeneity correction understate productivity losses after adoption. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:261154&r=eff |
| By: | Shavgulidze, Rati; Zvyagintsev, Dmitry |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2017–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:262711&r=eff |
| By: | KODAMA Naomi; Huiyu LI |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relationship between the performance of a firm and the characteristics of its manager for private and public firms in Japan. We use a panel data of firms from 2006-2016 that covers over two-thirds of aggregate employment and is representative of the firm size distribution. We find that firm performance measures—size, growth, and sales per employee—are higher in firms with managers who are male, more educated, and whose self-reported hometown differs from the location of the firm he or she manages (migrant managers). We also find an inverted-U relationship between firm performance level and manager's age, and that growth rate declines with the manager's age. Firm performance first increases with age until middle age, after which it declines with age. However, managers with characteristics that are associated with good performance do not necessarily perform better in recessions: male and migrant managers cut back more on sales and employment during the 2008-2009 recession. These results hold even after controlling for firm characteristics such as industry, age, location, and family ownership. Our results are consistent with human capital and risk preference affecting the productivity of managers. They suggest that demographic shifts—aging, rising female labor participation and education attainment, change in migration patterns—may affect economic growth through the distribution of managerial productivity. |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:18060&r=eff |
| By: | Olsen, Jakob Vesterlund; Czekaj, Tomasz Gerard; Henningsen, Arne; Schou, Jesper Sølver |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effect of land fragmentation on the performance of Danish farms based on a cross-sectional farm-level data set from 2014. Our measures of land fragmentation indicate the size and shape of the feild as well as inter feild distances and distances between farm buildings and feilds. Fragmented land is expected to increase costs and reduce production and, thus, decrease the performance of farms. Preliminary results based on two methodological approaches both indicate no statistically signifcant effect of the shape of the feils, while smaller feild sizes and longer distances signifcantly reduce performance. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2017–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae17:260900&r=eff |
| By: | Wineman, Ayala; Jayne, Thomas S. |
| Abstract: | Although the inverse farm size-productivity relationship (IR) is sometimes used to motivate arguments in favor of smallholder-led agricultural development, it remains unclear what drives this relationship. It may be attributed to market imperfections that compel small farms to use land more intensively than large farms. Using a three-wave longitudinal household survey from Tanzania, we examine whether the intensity of the IR is related to local factor market activity for land, labor, credit, and animal and machine traction. The IR is evident in Tanzania, although it disappears when family labor is valued at the prevailing local agricultural wage rate. This suggests that labor market imperfections (possibly linked to other market failures) drive the IR. Furthermore, the IR is significantly weakened in the presence of relatively active markets for most factors of production. This suggests that the IR is at least partly driven by imperfections in rural factor markets, underscoring the importance of strategies to improve the functioning of these markets. |
| Date: | 2017–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:265405&r=eff |