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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2021‒09‒13
sixteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Hamilton, Stephen F.; Richards, Timothy J.; Shafran, Aric; Vasilaky, Kathryn |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agribusiness, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea21:313343&r= |
| By: | Timo Boppart; Huiyu Li |
| Abstract: | Growth accounting suggests that the bulk of the post-2004 slowdown in output growth in the U.S. is attributed to a residual called TFP. In this paper we provide a tractable accounting framework with firm heterogeneity to link this residual to innovations, markup dispersion, and potential measurement errors. Theories of creative destruction offer rich testable predictions of how the quality upgrading of products, the process efficiency of different firms, and markup dispersion in the market interact and therefore constitute a key approach to shed light on the slowdown in TFP growth. Surveying the literature on measurement, we conclude that measurement errors is unlikely to explain the recent deceleration in TFP growth. |
| Keywords: | growth accounting; development accounting; growth slowdown; measurement; innovation |
| JEL: | O31 O47 O51 |
| Date: | 2021–08–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:93024&r= |
| By: | OGAWA Kazuo |
| Abstract: | This study examines the technical inefficiency of Japanese small and medium manufacturing firms by using the panel data of the Basic Survey on Small and Medium Enterprises (2009-2018). We estimate the stochastic frontier production function with four production factors (regular workers, non-regular workers, capital stock, and materials) and calculate the technical inefficiency of individual firm by applying a true random effects model which can distinguish technical inefficiency from firm heterogeneity. Our evidence is summarized as follows. First, technical inefficiency is overestimated when the number of total workers is used as production input for the conventional stochastic frontier model which forces firm heterogeneity into the same term as technical inefficiency. Second, the inefficient firms are smaller, rely more on non-regular workers, exhibit poorer firm performance, have higher debt-asset ratios, pay lower interest rates and are inactive in capital investment as well as R&D investment. Third, inactive capital investment and high debt-asset ratios are mainly responsible for causing the technical inefficiency. |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:21068&r= |
| By: | Marc Blatter (Swiss National Bank); Andreas Fuster (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Swiss Finance Institute; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes efficiency and profitability in the Swiss banking sector over the period 1997- 2019. We find strong evidence for scale economies: for most banks in the sample, efficiency and profitability increase with bank size. Using an instrumental variables strategy for a subset of geographically restrained banks, we find that the effect of size on efficiency and profitability is likely causal. Scale economies have been more pronounced since 2010 than in the years prior to the global financial crisis. There is little evidence for scale economies for the largest (systemically important) banks; their relatively lower efficiency and lower profitability appear driven by certain aspects of their business model. Our results further indicate that good capitalization and high efficiency and profitability are compatible. |
| Keywords: | Bank efficiency, profitability, economies of scale, financial regulation |
| JEL: | G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2161&r= |
| By: | Rocha, Adauto B. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea21:312855&r= |
| By: | Axenbeck, Janna; Niebel, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Although information and communication technologies (ICT) consume energy themselves, they are considered to have the potential to improve overall energy efficiency within economic sectors. While previous empirical evidence is based on aggregated data, this is the first large-scale empirical study on the relationship between ICT and energy efficiency at the firm level. For this purpose, we employ administrative panel data on 28,734 manufacturing firms from German Statistical Offices of the Federation and the Federal States collected between 2009 and 2017. Using software capital intensity as an indicator for the firm-level degree of digitalization, we analyze whether an increase thereof relates to energy efficiency improvements. Results confirm the statistically significant negative link between software capital and energy use. However, the relationship is highly inelastic and does not suggest economic relevance. Therefore, we conclude that effects of ICT on energy use are not large enough to substantially improve energy efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Digitalization,ICT,Firm Level,Energy Efficiency |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb21:238007&r= |
| By: | Daan Freeman (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Leon Bettendorf (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Harro van Heuvelen (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Gerdien Meijerink (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the declining firm dynamism in the Netherlands, which may explain part of the slowdown in productivity growth. We use a rich microdata set including nearly all corporations in the Netherlands during 2006-2016, which enables us to evaluate the TFP growth contributions of exiting firms, start-ups and new firms resulting from mergers & acquisitions in different industries. We use a Melitz and Polanec (2015) decomposition to assess TFP growth contributions. We find that in service industries, start-ups, new firms created by M&As and exiting firms all contribute to overall TFP growth, in line with the creative destruction hypothesis. In manufacturing industries, TFP growth is driven mostly by incumbent firms. Here, entry and exit dynamics contribute relatively little or even negatively to TFP growth. In addition, young firms in the manufacturing industries tend to have higher TFP growth than older firms, while in service industries this is not the case. Finally, in general, relatively low productivity entrants are more likely to exit in the first five years after entry, which is in line with an `up-or-out' dynamic. |
| JEL: | F16 J31 R11 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:427&r= |
| By: | Tsay, Juo-Han; Paulson, Nick |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Agribusiness, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea21:312860&r= |
| By: | Gehrke, Esther; Kubitza, Christoph (International Rice Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the link between agricultural productivity growth and fertility, using the oil palm boom in Indonesia as empirical setting. During the time period 1996 to 2016, we find consistently negative effects of the oil palm expansion on fertility. We explain this finding with rising farm profits, that led to consumption growth, the expansion of the non-agricultural sector, increasing returns to education and to higher school nrollment. Together these findings suggest that agricultural productivity growth can play an important role in accelerating the fertility transition, as long as the economic benefits are large enough to translate into local economic development. |
| Date: | 2021–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:y8wa6&r= |
| By: | Tonsor, Glynn T.; Bina, Justin D. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Production Economics, Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea21:312637&r= |
| By: | Ari Bronsoler; Joseph J. Doyle Jr.; John Van Reenen |
| Abstract: | Adoption of health information and communication technologies (“HICT”) has surged over the past two decades. We survey the medical and economic literature on HICT adoption and its impact on clinical outcomes, productivity and labor. We find that HICT improves clinical outcomes and lowers healthcare costs, but (i) the effects are modest so far, (ii) it takes time for these effects to materialize, and (iii) there is much variation in the impact. More evidence on the causal effects of HICT on productivity is needed to guide further adoption. There is little econometric work directly investigating the impact of HICT on labor, but what there is suggests no substantial negative effects on employment and earnings. Overall, while healthcare is “exceptional” in many ways, we are struck by the similarities to the wider findings on ICT and productivity stressing the importance of complementary factors (e.g. management and skills) in determining HICT impacts. |
| JEL: | I12 I18 J21 J24 O14 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29218&r= |
| By: | Ali, Muhammad Tahir |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea21:312734&r= |
| By: | Laurens Cherchye; Bram De Rock; Bart Dierynck; P.J. Kerstens; Filip Roodhooft |
| Abstract: | Firms have become increasingly customer centric, implying that customers, rather than products are treated as the most important asset of a firm. The switch to customer-centric strategies also implies that firms are collecting an enormous amount of customer-related data. The purpose of this paper is to propose a DEA-based methodology to determine the contribution of customer segments to firm value. We show the practical usefulness of our methodology through an application to Activity Based Costing (ABC) data collected from a large European telecom provider, which offers fixed telephone, mobile telephone, digital television and internet subscriptions. Our analysis reveals that the average cost reduction potential across all customer segments amounts to 1.26% of the total controllable costs, which represents approximately EUR 5 million when expressed in monetary terms. We also document substantial variation in the cost reduction potential across customer segments. |
| Keywords: | data envelopment analysis, customer value, multi-output effciency, ABC systems |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/331121&r= |
| By: | Nicola Cetorelli; Michael G. Jacobides; Samuel Stern |
| Abstract: | Does the performance of banks improve or worsen when banks enter into new business activities? And does it matter which activities a bank expands into, or retreats from, and when that decision is made? These important questions have remained unaddressed due to a lack of data. In a recent publication, we used a unique data set detailing the organizational structure of the entire population of U.S. bank holding companies (BHCs). In this post, we draw on that research to show that while scope expansion on average hurts performance, entering into activities that are highly synergistic with core banking at a given point in time yields net performance benefits. |
| Keywords: | diversification; industry evolution; business scope |
| JEL: | G2 |
| Date: | 2021–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednls:93026&r= |
| By: | Antonella Biscione (Department of Bioeconomic Strategies in the European Union and in the Balkans CESPIC, Catholic University Our Lady of Good Counsel); Dorothee Boccanfuso (Faculte de Gouvernance, Sciences Economiques et Sociales, AIRESS, Universite Mohammed VI Polytechnique); Annunziata de Felice; Francesco Porcelli (Department of Law, University of Bari Aldo Moro; Department of Law, University of Bari Aldo Moro) |
| Abstract: | This study seeks to explore the firm barriers of energy efficiency in a set of 28 Transition economies exploiting the enterprise survey data collected by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) jointly with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank Group (WBG). Based on the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model and on the construction of three different indicators to evaluate the energy efficiency, we find that the barriers to the adoption of energy efficiency measures mainly lack financial resources and profitability. Findings obtained from the interactions are also worthy of note. In particular, we find that the absence of profitability starts being stronger for non-EU countries. Instead, there is no evidence of heterogenous effects for industry sectors. |
| Keywords: | Firms energy efficiency, Barriers, Transition economies |
| JEL: | D22 K32 L29 |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pea:wpaper:1014&r= |
| By: | Salin, Victoria |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Agribusiness, Marketing |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea21:312640&r= |