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on Efficiency and Productivity |
| By: | Paul, Saumik (University of Manchester); Sen, Kunal (UNU-WIDER) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the implications of heterogeneity in construction productivity on cross-country income disparity. Using a sample of 168 countries, we estimate the 10:1 spread in construction productivity as a factor of 49-fold in 2017. The construction productivity gap falls by 46 percent when production networks are incorporated in the development accounting framework. Based on counterfactual analysis, the elimination of cross-country disparity in construction productivity lowers the 10:1 spread in GDP per capita by 55 percent. Variations in both the intermediates share of construction output and complementarity in intermediate inputs across countries drive the aggregate effects of construction productivity shock. |
| Keywords: | productivity, construction, intersectoral network, income disparity |
| JEL: | O4 O5 O11 E01 E13 L74 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18377 |
| By: | Greg Cancelada |
| Abstract: | Generative AI is lifting productivity and transforming the future of work. Learn more with insights from an expert and real-world data on AI adoption and impact. |
| Date: | 2025–10–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:l00100:102779 |
| By: | Federal Reserve Bank St. Louis |
| Abstract: | What effects might generative AI have on employment levels and on workers' productivity? An economist weighs in, using past technological disruptions as a guide. |
| Date: | 2026–02–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:l00100:102755 |
| By: | Lisa D. Cook |
| Date: | 2026–02–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgsq:102811 |
| By: | Dietz, Simon; Jahn, Valentin |
| Abstract: | The TPI Centre’s Carbon Performance assessments have historically assessed companies’ emission pathways on an emissions intensity basis – that is, the volume of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of economic output. Coal mining is the first sector that we assessed based on absolute emissions rather than emissions intensities. This approach reflects the unique decarbonisation challenges specific to coal mining. Achieving net zero in this sector ultimately requires an almost complete phase-out of coal production. Unlike other industries, where efficiency improvements and new production methods can reduce emissions intensity while maintaining output, coal mining’s main decarbonisation strategy of phasing out production cannot meaningfully be assessed on an intensity basis. This is because coal production and Scope 1-3 emissions would reduce roughly proportionally. To account for these sector-specific characteristics, we introduce the Emissions Contraction Approach (ECA). The ECA remains grounded in the Sectoral Decarbonisation Approach (SDA), which the TPI Centre applies to all its Carbon Performance assessments. This section outlines the rationale behind using the ECA and explains why an alternative method is necessary for assessing the sector’s alignment with international climate goals. |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137418 |
| By: | Jan LukÅ¡iÄ; Jörg Peschner; Giuseppe Piroli |
| Abstract: | We find that patents registered by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in tax havens help avoid taxes in the EU but fail to increase the total factor productivity (TFP) of EU-located group members. We conclude that many of those patents' prime purpose is not to make technology available and then diffuse it smoothly within the group. It is rather to avoid taxes in the EU by shifting profits to low-tax offshore entities. We suggest that implementing a comprehensive system of withholding taxes on outbound royalty payments could reduce profit-shifting associated with patents, thereby fostering more innovative and efficient uses of intellectual property. |
| Keywords: | Multinational enterprises, taxes, TFP, innovation. |
| JEL: | D24 F38 H21 H25 O32 |
| Date: | 2026–01–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2026_04 |
| By: | Joel Bothello (EM - EMLyon Business School); Sorin M. S. Krammer (UNIS - University of Surrey); Vlad‐andrei Porumb (University of Manchester [Manchester]); Yasemin Zengin-Karaibrahimoglu (University of Groningen (The Netherlands, Groningen)) |
| Abstract: | Research Summary: Prior studies on business groups (BGs) have predominantly focused on the impact of group affiliation on financial performance. In contrast, we argue that BG affiliates will outperform standalone firms in terms of corporate social performance (CSP) and that this effect will be positively moderated by the strength of formal and informal institutions. Moreover, we examine also differences among BGs and hypothesize that diversification and hierarchy of the group will negatively affect the CSP of affiliates. Employing a panel of 4368 firms from 43 countries between 2003 and 2016 and a propensity score matching approach in our regressions, we find robust support for these predictions. Our findings advance two distinct strands of literature on BGs and, respectively, corporate social responsibility. Managerial Summary: BG are a common organizational structure in many countries. Despite this, we still do not know much about them beyond their financial performance. In this study, we focus on examining the impact of BG affiliation on non-financial performance (i.e., CSP) in the light of growing societal grand challenges. Using an international dataset of several thousands of firms, we find out that BG affiliates exhibit superior CSP results compared to non-affiliated firms. |
| Keywords: | organizational structure, institutions, corporate social performance, business groups |
| Date: | 2024–11–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05511785 |
| By: | John Van Reenen |
| Abstract: | How the study of innovation and competition has been transformed. |
| Keywords: | Growth, Creative destruction, Nobel, Innovation, , Productivity |
| Date: | 2026–02–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:722 |
| By: | Mary C. Daly |
| Abstract: | Speech to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, San Jose, California, February 17, 2026, 11:30 a.m. PT, by Mary C. Daly, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence (AI) |
| Date: | 2026–02–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfsp:102798 |
| By: | Daria Denti (Gran Sasso Science Institute); Marco Di Cataldo (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) |
| Abstract: | Efficient justice is regarded as crucial for deterring crimes. This paper assesses the impact of a reform of the criminal justice system advocated by European institutions and implemented in Italy, significantly reshaping the geography of first-instance courts in the country through court mergers. We evaluate the reform's effects on justice efficiency and crime rates. Event study and difference-in-differences estimates reveal that the efficiency of criminal courts improved significantly as a result of the reform. This contributed to limiting property and organised crimes, while violent crimes were unaffected. These results support the idea that the deterrence effect of justice efficiency applies mainly to 'rational' crimes, while criminals acting under impulsive and less rational circumstances do not internalise information about justice in their decision-making. |
| Keywords: | crime, judicial reform, court mergers, justice efficiency, Italy |
| JEL: | K14 K42 P43 Z18 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2026:06 |
| By: | Deng, Haotian; Desiere, Sam; Cockx, Bart (ROA / Human capital in the region); Bijnens, Gert |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how employment subsidies for start-ups shape their performance. We exploit an unexpected policy reform in Belgium that permanently exempted start-ups hiring their first employee from payroll taxes for that employee. Using firm-level administrative data and a regression-discontinuity-in-time design, we find that subsidized post-reform start-ups employed fewer workers and generated lower output, value added, and profits compared to pre-reform start-ups. However, post-reform start-ups were more likely to survive as employers. These effects emerged within the first year after hiring and remained stable over a medium horizon of three years. Our findings indicate a compositional shift: the subsidy primarily induced low-productivity firms to enter the market. As most firms nowadays are nonemployers, our results meaningfully generalize the theoretical implications of standard neoclassical entrepreneurship models (employee–employer margin) and fill the important gap of the nonemployer–employer margin. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, start-up, employment subsidy, tax reduction, labor de-mand;, Small firms |
| JEL: | H25 J23 J24 J38 L25 L26 M51 |
| Date: | 2026–02–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2026001 |