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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2021‒05‒10
twelve papers chosen by |
| By: | Themann, Michael; Koch, Nikolas |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the potential impact of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) on firm productivity. We estimate a stylized version of the neo-Schumpeterian model, which incorporates innovation and productivity catch-up as two potential sources of firm's productivity growth, while at the same time accounting for persistent productivity dispersion within industries. This dynamic model allows us to differentiate the potential effects of the EU ETS on total factor productivity (TFP) depending on the level of firms' technological advancement. The identification approach is based on a difference-in-difference approach exploiting the incomplete participation requirements of the EU ETS and the rich panel structure of firm-level data for eight EU countries from 2002 to 2012. We find evidence that the policy effects on TFP are highly heterogeneous and depend on the distance to the technological frontier, measured as the highest TFP in each year-industry. Productivity effects are positive for firms that are close to the frontier, but they turn negative for firms operating far behind the frontier. |
| Keywords: | Environmental regulation,EU ETS,productivity,competitiveness |
| JEL: | D22 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:904&r= |
| By: | Ganau, Roberto; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | Europe has witnessed a considerable labour productivity slowdown in recent decades. Many potential explanations have been proposed to address this productivity 'puzzle'. However, how the quality of local institutions influences labour productivity has been overlooked by the literature. This paper addresses this gap by evaluating how institutional quality affects labour productivity growth and, particularly, its determinants at the regional level during the period 2003-2015. The results indicate that institutional quality influences regions' labour productivity growth both directly -as improvements in institutional quality drive productivity growth- and indirectly -as the short- and long-run returns of human capital and innovation on labour productivity growth are affected by regional variations in institutional quality. |
| Keywords: | Europe; Human Capital; Innovation; institutional quality; labour productivity; Physical Capital; regions |
| JEL: | E24 J24 O47 R11 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15870&r= |
| By: | De Roux, Nicolas; Eslava, Marcela; Franco, Santiago; Verhoogen, Eric A |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a new method for estimating production-function parameters that can be applied in differentiated-product industries with endogenous quality and variety choice. We take advantage of data on physical quantities of outputs and inputs from the Colombian manufacturing survey, focusing on producers of rubber and plastic products. Assuming constant elasticities of substitution of outputs and inputs within firms, we aggregate from the firm-product to the firm level and show how quality and variety choices may bias standard estimators. Using real exchange rates and variation in the "bite" of the national minimum wage, we construct external instruments for materials and labor choices. We implement a simple two-step instrumental-variables method, first estimating a difference equation to recover the materials and labor coefficients and then estimating a levels equation to recover the capital coefficient. Under the assumption that the instruments are uncorrelated with firms' quality and variety choices, this method yields consistent estimates, free of the quality and variety biases we have identified. Our point estimates differ from those of existing methods and changes in our preferred productivity estimator perform relatively well in predicting future export growth. |
| JEL: | D24 L1 L65 O14 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15626&r= |
| By: | Diao, Xinshen; Ellis, Mia; McMillan, Margaret; Rodrik, Dani |
| Abstract: | Recent growth accelerations in Africa are characterized by increasing productivity in agriculture, a declining share of the labor force employed in agriculture and declining productivity in modern sectors such as manufacturing. To shed light on this puzzle, we disaggregate firms in the manufacturing sector by size using two newly created panels of manufacturing firms, one for Tanzania covering 2008-2016 and one for Ethiopia covering 1996-2017. Our analysis reveals a dichotomy between larger firms that exhibit superior productivity performance but do not expand employment much, and small firms that absorb employment but do not experience any productivity growth. We suggest the poor employment performance of large firms is related to use of capital-intensive techniques associated with global trends in technology. |
| JEL: | O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15650&r= |
| By: | Bighelli, Tommaso; Di Mauro, Filippo; Melitz, Marc J.; Mertens, Matthias |
| Abstract: | This article derives a European Herfindahl-Hirschman concentration index from 15 micro-aggregated country datasets. In the last decade, European concentration rose due to a reallocation of economic activity towards large and concentrated industries. Over the same period, productivity gains from reallocation accounted for 50% of European productivity growth and markups stayed constant. Using country-industry variation, we show that changes in concentration are positively associated with changes in productivity and allocative efficiency. This holds across most sectors and countries and supports the notion that rising concentration in Europe reflects a more efficient market environment rather than weak competition and rising market power. |
| Keywords: | allocative efficiency,European market structure,firm concentration,market power,productivity |
| JEL: | D24 E25 F15 L11 L25 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhcom:32021&r= |
| By: | Harrigan, James; Resheff, Ariell; Toubal, Farid |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of firm-level choices on ICT, R&D, exporting and importing on the evolution of productivity, its bias towards skilled workers, and implications for labor demand. We use a novel measure of firm-level R&D and ICT adoption: employment of "techies" who perform these tasks. We develop methodology for estimating nested-CES production functions and for measuring both Hicks-neutral and skill-augmenting technology differences at the firm level. Using administrative data on French firms we find that techies, exporting and importing raise skill-biased productivity. In contrast, only ICT techies raise Hicks-neutral productivity. On average, higher firm-level skill biased productivity hardly affects low-skill employment, even as it raises relative demand for skill, due to the cost-reducing effect. ICT accounts for large increases in aggregate demand for skill, mostly due to the effect on firm size, less so through within-firm changes. Exporting, importing, and R&D have smaller aggregate effects. |
| Keywords: | Globalization; ICT; labor demand; Outsourcing; productivity; R&D; skill augmenting; Skill bias; STEM skills; techies |
| JEL: | D2 D24 F1 F16 F6 F66 J2 J23 J24 O52 |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15815&r= |
| By: | Abugamea, Gaber |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to examine the impact of bank-specific and major macroeconomic factors on the profitability of the biggest two Islamic banks in Palestine over the time period 1997-2018. It employs Pooled Regression analysis to investigate the effect of bank’s asset size, capital, loans, liabilities, operating cost, economic growth and inflation on key bank profitability indicators; return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), respectively. The main findings show that size and capital have positive impact on ROE. Loans are positively correlated with both ROA and ROE. Liabilities are negatively related to ROA and operating cost has negative impact on both ROA and ROE. Moreover, Islamic banks not benefited significantly from both the inflationary environment and economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Banking Profitability, Internal & External Factors, Pooled Regression |
| JEL: | G12 |
| Date: | 2021–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:107527&r= |
| By: | Deserranno, Erika; León-Ciliotta, Gianmarco |
| Abstract: | We study promotion incentives in the public sector by means of a field experiment with the Ministry of Health in Sierra Leone. The experiment creates exogenous variation in meritocracy by linking promotions to performance and variation in perceived pay progression among the lowest tier of health workers. We find that meritocratic promotions lead to higher productivity, and more so when workers expect a steep pay increase. However, when promotions are not meritocratic, increasing the pay gradient reduces productivity through negative morale effects. The findings highlight the importance of taking into account the interactions between different tools of personnel policy. |
| Keywords: | Meritocracy; Pay Progression; promotions; Worker productivity |
| JEL: | D73 J31 M51 M52 |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15837&r= |
| By: | Yue-Jun (School of Business, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan 410082, China); Ting Liang (School of Business, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan 410082, ChinaAuthor-Name: Weijie Zhai); Zongwu Cai (Department of Economics, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether technological innovation can bring some economic and environmental benefits to energy firms. By analyzing data for energy firms in China from 2009 to 2017, this paper finds that technological innovation is not always beneficial to the multi-interests of energy firms. First, technological innovation does not necessarily fully promote the benefit-based performance of energy firms in China. Actually, technological innovation increases the excess returns but inhibits the operational efficiency of energy firms, and has no a significant impact on the firm value of energy firms. Moreover, technological innovation exacerbates the crash risks of energy firms, which is not conductive to the stability of energy financial market. Second, technological innovation may significantly reduce carbon emissions intensity and play an important role in improving the environmental performance of energy firms in China. Finally, a sharp rise in energy prices may inhibit technological innovation activities, and thus influencing the performance of energy firms. |
| Keywords: | Technological innovation; Energy firms; Firm performance; Truncated regression model; Treatment effect model |
| JEL: | Q55 M14 O13 L25 |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kan:wpaper:202112&r= |
| By: | Georgios Gioldasis (Università degli Studi di Ferrara); Antonio Musolesi (Università degli Studi di Ferrara); Michel Simioni (MOISA, INRA, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper reconsiders the international technology diffusion model. Because the high degree of uncertainty surrounding the Data Generating Process and the likely presence of nonlinearities and latent common factors, it considers alternative nonparametric panel specifications which extend the Common Correlated Effects approach and then contrasts the out-of-sample performance of them with those of more common parametric models. To do so, we extend a recently proposed data-driven model choice approach, which takes its roots on cross validation and aims at testing whether two competing approximate models are equivalent in terms of their expected true error, to the case of cross-sectionally dependent panels, by exploiting moving block bootstrap resampling methods and assessing forecasting performances of competing models. Our results indicate that the adoption of a fully nonparametric specification provides better performances. This work also refines previous results by showing threshold effects, nonlinearities and interactions, which are obscured in parametric specifications and which have relevant implications for policy. |
| Keywords: | large panels; cross-sectional dependence; factor models; nonparametric regression; spline functions; approximate model; predictive accuracy, international technology diffusion |
| JEL: | C23 C5 F0 O3 |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:0621&r= |
| By: | Laurent Piet (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Vincent Chatellier (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Cathie Laroche-Dupraz (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Marc Benoit (UMRH - Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213 - VAS - VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); K. Hervé Dakpo (ECO-PUB - Economie Publique - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Nathalie Delame (ECO-PUB - Economie Publique - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Yann Desjeux (GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Pierre Dupraz (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Mélisande Gillot (Territoires - Territoires - AgroParisTech - VAS - VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne); Philippe Jeanneaux (Territoires - Territoires - AgroParisTech - VAS - VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne); Aude Ridier (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Elisabeth Samson (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Patrick Veysset (UMRH - Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213 - VAS - VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Pauline Avril (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Cyrielle Beaudouin (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); S Boukhriss (UMRH - Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213 - VAS - VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This conference (2 hours) entitled "Heterogeneity, determinants and trajectories of the French farmers' s income" was held within the framework of the General Assembly of the CGAAER. It addressed the following main points: The challenges of measuring farm income and the different indicators of farm economic results; the heterogeneity of the economic results of French farms and the distribution of the value created. |
| Abstract: | Cette conférence (2 heures) ayant pour titre « Hétérogénéité, déterminants et trajectoires du revenu des agriculteurs français » a été réalisée dans le cadre de l'Assemblée Générale du Conseil Général de l'Alimentation, de l'Agriculture et des Espaces Ruraux (CGAAER). Elle a abordé les principaux points suivants : les enjeux de la mesure du revenu agricole et les différents indicateurs des résultats économiques des exploitations agricoles ; l'hétérogénéité des résultats économiques des exploitations françaises et la répartition de la valeur créée. |
| Keywords: | Farm,Agricultural income,Economic performance,FADN,Exploitation agricole,Revenu agricole,Performance économique,RICA,France |
| Date: | 2021–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03210138&r= |
| By: | Dang, Hai-Anh (World Bank); Glewwe, Paul (University of Minnesota); Vu, Khoa (University of Minnesota); Lee, Jongwook (Seoul National University) |
| Abstract: | Despite being the poorest or second poorest participant, Vietnam performed much better than all other developing countries, and even ahead of wealthier countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., on the 2012 and 2015 PISA assessments. We provide a rigorous investigation of Vietnam's strong performance. After making various parametric and non-parametric corrections for potentially non-representative PISA samples, including bias due to Vietnam's large out-of-school population, Vietnam still remains a large positive outlier conditional on its income. Possible higher motivation of, and coaching given to, Vietnamese students only partly explains Vietnam's performance, and this is also the case for various observed household- and school-level variables. Finally, Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions indicate that the gap in average test scores between Vietnam and the other participating countries is due not to differences in students' and schools' observed characteristics, but instead to Vietnam's greater "productivity" of those characteristics. |
| Keywords: | education, student learning, test scores, enrollment, PISA, Vietnam |
| JEL: | H0 I2 O1 P3 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14315&r= |