|
on Efficiency and Productivity |
| By: | John M. Barrios; Brian C. Fujiy; Petro Lisowsky; Michael Minnis |
| Abstract: | We examine how differences in financial reporting practices shape firm productivity. Leveraging new audit questions in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2021 Management and Organizational Practices Survey (MOPS), and complementary tax return data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and detailed financial records from Sageworks, we find that (i) variation in reporting quality explains 10-20 percent of intra-industry total factor productivity dispersion, and (ii) evidence of complementarity between the effects of financial audits and management practices driving firm productivity. We then examine the underlying mechanisms. First, audits function as a managerial technology, improving the precision of internal information and raising efficiency, with stronger effects in competitive, low-margin industries and among younger firms. Second, exploiting cross-state variation in tax incentives, we show that audits constrain underreporting and mitigate the downward bias in measured productivity. Together, these results highlight the underrated importance of financial reporting quality driving firm productivity. |
| Keywords: | Management, productivity, accounting, auditing |
| JEL: | D24 G3 L2 M2 M40 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:25-72 |
| By: | Otgun, Hanifi; Fulginiti, Lilyan E.; Perrin, Richard K. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, Production Economics, International Development |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343572 |
| By: | Park, Timothy A.; Holmes, Marionette |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Productivity Analysis, Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343903 |
| By: | Miranda De Souza Almeida, Felipe; Spolador, Humberto F.S. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, Production Economics, International Development |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343554 |
| By: | Guillem Blasco-Piles (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first aggregate and disaggregated comprehensive Total Factor Productivity estimates for manufacturing in the Ottoman, Qing and Russian Empires before their collapse, incorporating both the traditional industry and capital estimates. Previous studies relied on modern-only establishments and labor productivity estimates, masking the role of capital and inner economic dynamics, which become essential during structural transformation processes. Using industrial censuses from 1908-1913 and regional reports combined with a novel reconstruction methodology for the traditional industry TFP, our results document extreme internal productivity dualism. Mechanized establishments achieved close to British efficiency levels while traditional non-mechanized plants operated at one-fifth to one-third of the industrial leader. At the aggregate level, lower-productivity traditional establishments seem to determine the aggregate productivity due to their vast weight in the manufacturing landscape. These findings suggest the persistence of the Great Divergence stemmed not from technological adoption incapacity but from the inability to diffuse new technologies beyond modern industrial enclaves—a pattern that illuminates persistent dualism in developing economies today. |
| Keywords: | Empires, Industrialization, Total Factor Productivity, Traditional Industry, Dualism |
| JEL: | L16 L60 N10 N60 O33 O47 O57 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0291 |
| By: | Jamal, Haroon |
| Abstract: | Total Factor Productivity (TFP) represents the efficiency with which capital and labor inputs are utilized in the production process. It captures the impact of elements beyond mere increases in the quantity of inputs and represents factors such as technological progress, innovation, improvements in organizational efficiency and institutional quality. This study estimates TFP of manufacturing firms in Pakistan using latest available firm level data collected and compiled for the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) of 2022. Data of the WBES of 2007 is also employed to estimate comparative TFP magnitudes. The research also evaluates the impact of few organizational characteristics of firms on the current level of TFP for the year 2022. The study indicates low level of TFP with the deteriorating trend. These results are consistent with the findings of earlier research on TFP in the context of Pakistan. This study estimates close to 9 percent decline in the magnitude of TFP during the period of 2007 and 2022. However, the extent of deterioration varies across provinces and across industrial sectors. The largest decline (25 percent) in TFP magnitude is estimated in Baluchistan province, followed by KPK (10%). In terms of industrial sectors, the notable sectors where TFP magnitude has declined are Food (43%) and Leather and Leather product (45%). In contrast, sectors in which TFP has improved during 2007-2022 include; Machinery and Equipment (56%), Chemical and Chemical Products (47%) and Wearing Apparels (27%). The econometrical results related with the determinants of productivity suggest that factors which enhance the firms’ performance and level of productivity include; use of information and communication technology, formal training programs for employees, access to international market, proportion of skilled production workers and the presence of competitive market environment. The TFP literature suggests that to increase TFP in Pakistani manufacturing firms, a multifaceted approach focused on improving efficiency, technology, human capital, and the overall business environment is required. |
| Keywords: | TFP; Manufacturing firms; Pakistan |
| JEL: | D24 L60 |
| Date: | 2025–11–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:126733 |
| By: | Zhang, Jian; Mishra, Ashok K.; Hazrana, Jaweriah |
| Keywords: | International Development, Agribusiness, Marketing |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343641 |
| By: | Diego Restuccia |
| Abstract: | I examine the empirical properties of firm-level productivity and distortions across countries using the newly released World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES). Using a standard framework of production heterogeneity, I show that the gap in productivity and distortions between high and low productivity firms is larger in developing countries, generating large aggregate productivity losses from misallocation. A key empirical property of distortions in developing countries is that they systematically weaken the relationship between firm size and firm productivity. I exploit a unique feature of the WBES data to document which specific aspects of the economic environment faced by firms, such as financial constraints, regulation, corruption, and weak infrastructure, are consistent with the empirical pattern of distortions across countries. |
| Keywords: | Firms, productivity, size, distortions, misallocation, manufacturing, services, regulation. |
| JEL: | O11 O14 O4 |
| Date: | 2025–12–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-810 |
| By: | Zhou, Jiajun; Mennig, Philipp; Sauer, Johannes |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343528 |
| By: | Schling, Maja; Saenz, Magaly |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343527 |
| By: | Ting-Yen Wang |
| Abstract: | This study introduces a novel framework for estimating industrial heterogeneity by integrating maximum entropy (ME) estimation of production functions with Zonotope-based measures. Traditional production function estimations often rely on restrictive parametric models, failing to capture firm behavior under uncertainty. This research addresses these limitations by applying Hang K. Ryu's ME method to estimate production functions using World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data from Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, and India. The study normalizes entropy values to quantify heterogeneity and compares these measures with a Zonotope-based Gini index. Results demonstrate the ME method's superiority in capturing nuanced, functional heterogeneity often missed by traditional techniques. Furthermore, the study incorporates a "Tangent Against Input Axes" method to dynamically assess technical change within industries. By integrating information theory with production economics, this unified framework quantifies structural and functional differences across industries using firm-level data, advancing both methodological and empirical understanding of heterogeneity. A numerical simulation confirms the ME regression functions can approximate actual industrial heterogeneity. The research also highlights the superior ability of the ME method to provide a precise and economically meaningful measure of industry heterogeneity, particularly for longitudinal analyses. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2512.00002 |
| By: | Gluschenko, Konstantin |
| Abstract: | Standard production functions, being homogeneous, have unchanging returns to scale. Therefore, it remains unclear to students where the U-shape average-cost curves come from. This article considers non-homogeneous production functions that have variable returns to scale and can produce such curves, providing a specific example. The article also discusses the link between economies/diseconomies of scale and market structures, showing that economies of scale are incompatible with perfect competition. They are peculiar to monopolies and oligopolies, whereas in a perfectly competitive market there are no economies of scale, diseconomies of scale being a quite normal phenomenon. |
| Keywords: | returns to scale economies/diseconomies of scale non-homogeneous production function firm’s expansion path market structure |
| JEL: | D24 D40 |
| Date: | 2025–11–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:126706 |
| By: | Carlson, Daryl |
| Keywords: | Production Economics |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:giamsc:263872 |
| By: | Pracht, Wyatt; Dizon, Felipe; Yu, Jisang |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, International Development |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343615 |