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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2022‒09‒19
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Fabling, Richard (Independent Researcher); Maré, David C. (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust); Stevens, Philip |
| Abstract: | We use linked employer-employee microdata for New Zealand to examine the relationship between firm-level productivity, wages and workforce composition. Jointly estimating production functions and firm- level wage bill equations, we compare migrant workers with NZ-born workers, through the lens of a derived "productivity-wage gap" that captures the difference in relative contribution to output and the wage bill. Whether we look at all industries using a common production function, or separately estimate results for the five largest sectors, we find that skilled and long-term migrants make contributions to output that exceed moderately-skilled NZ-born workers, with that higher contribution likely being due to a mix of skill differences and/or effort which is largely reflected in higher wages. Conversely, migrants that are not on skilled visas are associated with lower output and lower wages than moderately-skilled NZ-born, also consistent with a skills/effort narrative. The share of employment for long-term migrants has grown over time (from 2005 to 2019) and we show that their relative contribution to output appears to be increasing over the same period. Finally, we present tentative evidence that high-skilled NZ-born workers make a stronger contribution to output when they work in firms with higher migrant shares, which is suggestive of complementarities between the two groups or, at least, positive mutual sorting of these groups into higher productivity firms. |
| Keywords: | migrant labour, firm productivity, worker sorting, wage determinants, quality-adjusted labour input |
| JEL: | D24 J15 J31 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15482&r= |
| By: | Hamed Taherdoost (Hamta Business Corporation); Mitra Madanchian (Hamta Academy | Hamta Group); Mona Ebrahimi (Research Club (Research and Development Departement) | Hamta Group) |
| Abstract: | Productivity of university members has been defined in different forms; however, no specific definition is presented to evaluate factors that determine the productivity of university members. This study intends to provide a certain definition for the productivity of university members including five major constructs that impact productivity and employs an Exploratory Factor Analysis Approach to propose a conceptual model for evaluation of the impact of these factors on the productivity of the staff in university. |
| Date: | 2021–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03741846&r= |
| By: | Gavoille, Nicolas (Stockholm School of Economics, Riga); Hazans, Mihails (University of Latvia) |
| Abstract: | The future of teleworking ultimately depends on its impact on workers' productivity and wellbeing, yet the effect of remote working on productivity is not well understood. This paper investigates the link between personality traits and workers' productivity when working from home. We exploit a survey providing measures of the "Big Five" personality traits for more than 1700 recent teleworkers. We document strong links between personality, productivity, and willingness to work from home post-pandemic. Ceteris paribus, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience are positively associated with a higher productivity from home, especially for females. On the other hand, the link between Extraversion and preference for teleworking is negative. These results suggest that a one-size-fits-all policy is unlikely to maximize neither firms' productivity nor workers' satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | personality traits, teleworking, work from home, productivity, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | J24 J32 J81 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15486&r= |
| By: | Alfaro-Ureña, Alonso; Manelici, Isabela; Vasquez Carvajal, Jose |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of becoming a supplier to multinational corporations (MNCs) using tax data tracking firm-to-firm transactions in Costa Rica. Event-study estimates reveal that domestic firms experience strong and persistent gains in performance after supplying to a first MNC buyer. Four years after, domestic firms employ 26% more workers and have a 4 to 9% higher total factor productivity (TFP). These effects are unlikely to be explained by demand effects or changes in tax compliance. Moreover, suppliers experience a large drop in their sales to all other buyers except the first MNC buyer in the year of the event, followed by a gradual recovery. The dynamics of adjustment in sales to others suggests that firms face short-run capacity constraints that relax over time. Four years later, the sales to others grow by 20%. Most of this growth comes from the acquisition of new buyers, which tend to be “better buyers” (e.g., larger and with more stable supplier relationships). Finally, we collected survey data from domestic firms and MNCs to provide further insights into the wide-ranging benefits of supplying to MNCs. According to our surveys, these benefits range from better managerial practices to a better reputation. |
| JEL: | F14 F23 O12 D24 |
| Date: | 2021–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:112758&r= |
| By: | Andrew Caplin; Minjoon Lee; Søren Leth-Petersen; Johan Saeverud; Matthew D. Shapiro |
| Abstract: | How worker productivity evolves with tenure and experience is central to economics, shaping, for example, life-cycle earnings and the losses from involuntary job separation. Yet, worker-level productivity is hard to identify from observational data. This paper introduces direct measurement of worker productivity in a firm survey designed to separate the role of on-the-job tenure from total experience in determining productivity growth. Several findings emerge concerning the initial period on the job. (1) On-the-job productivity growth exceeds wage growth, consistent with wages not being allocative period-by-period. (2) Previous experience is a substitute, but a far less than perfect one, for on-the-job tenure. (3) There is substantial heterogeneity across jobs in the extent to which previous experience substitutes for tenure. The survey makes use of administrative data to construct a representative sample of firms, check for selective non-response, validate survey measures with administrative measures, and calibrate parameters not measured in the survey. |
| JEL: | J24 J30 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30342&r= |
| By: | Sahil Chopra |
| Abstract: | To extend banking services to the Indian rural sector, an act was passed in 1976 and then in 1980 to nationalize the banks. Giving the name to such an approach as social banking. Banking sector in India, therefore, has been bifurcated into public sector banks, private sector banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks, urban cooperative banks and rural cooperative banks. Many studies have assessed the performance of private and public sector banks. Such research has evaluated the performance of private and public sector banks by estimating bank-specific and macroeconomic parameters. However, not many quantitative literatures are available which have estimated the impact of ownership on bank performance by considering ownership as one of the bank-specific independent variables to evaluate the impact of ownership on bank profitability. This paper seeks to fill this gap by examining the determinants of profitability on the account of ownership, and it uses an independently constructed dataset containing all commercial public and private sector banks in India as on April 2020. The data ranges from 2004 to 2020. The justification to measure the impact of ownership comes from the theory of Government failure, which mainly points out how government intervention can result in costly solutions. Therefore, by adding the independent variable in an already established model, we can assess the impact of ownership. Banks’ characteristics are collected from respective banks’ websites, and the hypotheses are tested by estimating an econometric model, i.e. a pooled OLS model. The results are promising: the banking industry as a whole is not performing well, however government owned banks are showcasing the worst performances. The reason for this can be the huge amount of loans sanctioned in priority sectors and fraudulent cases which may be due to the presence of interest groups, corruption and inefficiency of employees in public sectors. |
| Keywords: | Government Failure, Empirical Analysis, Public Sector Banks, Panel Data, Pooled OLS model |
| JEL: | C30 H83 I38 |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:remwps:wp02402022&r= |
| By: | Alim, Wajid; Ali, Amjad; Minhas, Amna Shafiq |
| Abstract: | The main aim of the study is to investigate the impact of leverage on financial performance. To maximize the wealth of the organization or for the shareholders is critical whereas its effects are due to the financial decision of management related to the optimal level. Moreover, managers use debt to maximize the return of shareholders, and if a high amount of debt is used by the manager of the firm it enhances the financial cost and financial risk as well. Therefore, this study examines the impact of leverage on the performance in the case of the fertilizers sector of the firm in which operating leverage, financial leverage, and combined leverage are included. The study includes the sample size from the annual report of five companies with 25 observations. The data was collected from 2016 to 2020. A descriptive study was used as well regression analysis examined the impact of leverage on profitability. The result showed that a company's leverage has significant results with Return on asset as companies should follow the return on asset for measuring the financial performance. While companies do not show significant relation with Return on Equity. It indicates that the debt ratio increased and it will make the lowest profit for companies. Results show negative relation with operating leverage as well as a positive relation with financial leverage and combine leverage of listed firms in the fertilizer sector of Pakistan. |
| Keywords: | financial leverage, operating leverage, combined leverage, financial performance |
| JEL: | D22 L2 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:114200&r= |