| By: |
Silvia Giannangeli (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, P.za Martiri della Libertà, 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy.);
Ram?n G?mez-Salvador (Corresponding author: Directorate General Economics, Directorate General Research, European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.) |
| Abstract: |
The study aims at describing productivity growth in the manufacturing sector
for a selected panel of five European countries using firm-level data. The
paper explores the empirical regularities of firm productivity distribution
across countries. In particular, we assess the degree of persistence of firm
relative productivity and consider its effect on aggregate productivity
improvements. Moreover, the paper analyses the impact of the competitive
forces on aggregate productivity growth by disentangling the role of firm
learning and market selection. Finally, we estimate the relationship between
labour productivity growth and firm-specific factors such as size, age and
capital intensity across countries. The paper uses annual account data over
the period 1993-2003 from Amadeus dataset (Bureau van Dijk) for a balanced
panel of manufacturing firms. In line with previous evidence, our analysis
shows that firm relative productivity levels are both highly heterogeneous
across firms and very persistent over time in all the countries in the sample.
With reference to aggregate productivity growth, we find that both labour
productivity and total factor productivity changes are mostly driven by firm
learning, i.e. within-firm productivity improvements, in most European
countries. Conversely, the reallocation of resources spurred by the
competitive selection process is found to play a minor role in fostering
aggregate productivity growth. Finally, in line with macroeconomic trends,
gains in productivity seem to be associated with capital deepening, but also
with employment losses. JEL Classification: D24, L11, L60. |
| Keywords: |
Productivity growth, microdata, cross-country comparison. |
| Date: |
2008–06 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20080914&r=tid |