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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2008‒05‒05
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Jukka Jalava; Ilja Kristian Kavonius |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT : The purpose of this paper is to estimate the effect of durable goods and ICT on Euro Area economic growth and productivity change; when expenditure on consumer durables is recorded as capital investment. The capitalization of consumer durables impacts both the levels and growth rates of the capital stock, productivity and GDP. Our growth accounting computations demonstrated that the capital services of durables contributed one-tenth of economic growth and one-eight of labour productivity growth in 1995-2004. ICT´s impacts were larger, i.e., one-fifth of GVA growth and one-sixth of labour productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | durable good, asset, productivity, ICT, growth accounting, capital services, household production |
| JEL: | E13 E21 E22 O11 O47 O52 |
| Date: | 2008–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1132&r=eff |
| By: | Derbel, Hatem; Abdelkafi, Rami; Chkir, Ali |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an empirical evidence of the impact of foreign trade on the sectorial productivity for the Tunisian manufacturer sector. The objective is to show that the insufficiency of the traditional theory in the explanation of the impact of the international trade on the labour market can be explained by the presence of an intrasectorel component that results from the reaction of firms facing the competition. Using recent unit root procedures applied to panel data regressions (Im, Pesaran & Shin’s (1997) and coïntegration tests (Pedroni’s (1999)), the results exhibit a positive impact of value added and trade on the productivity of the manufacturer sector. The survey by sector shows that the value added acts positively on all sectors whereas for trade a positive and statistically significant effect exist only for the ICH and IMD sectors. |
| Keywords: | Commerce extérieur; marché du travail; productivité sectorielle. |
| JEL: | C13 F10 F12 F14 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8533&r=eff |
| By: | Gropp, Reint Eberhard; Heider, Florian |
| Abstract: | This paper documents that standard cross-sectional determinants of firm leverage also apply to the capital structure of large banks in the United States and Europe. We find a remarkable consistency in sign, significance and economic magnitude. Like non-financial firms, banks appear to have stable capital structures at levels that are specific to each individual bank. The results suggest that capital requirements may only be of second-order importance for banks’ capital structures and confirm the robustness of current corporate finance findings in a holdout sample of banks. |
| Keywords: | capital structure, corporate finance, leverage, bank capital, banking regulation |
| JEL: | G21 G32 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7224&r=eff |
| By: | Robert Plasman (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels); Michael Rusinek (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels); Ilan Tojerow (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels) |
| Abstract: | In Belgium, 2007 has been marked by long coalition negotiations over an agreement on a new government. The main bone of contention had been related to the reform of the Belgian Federal State. Among the suggested reforms, the regionalisation of the collective bargaining system turned out frequently. It relies on the assumption that the productivity differences between regions are not fully taken into account in a federal wage setting system. Our findings challenge this hypothesis by putting forward the current existence of wage differentials between regions and joint committees. We also show that regional wage differentials at the joint committee level are correlated to regional productivity differences. Finally, we find that the correlation between regional wage differentials and productivity is higher in decentralised joint committees. Hence, we conclude that productivity variations are already integrated in the Belgian wage setting system. |
| Keywords: | Wages, Collective bargaining, Federalism, Regions, Belgium. |
| JEL: | J31 J52 R11 H77 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dul:wpaper:08-11rs&r=eff |
| By: | Bandyopadhyay, Debdas; Das, Arabinda |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the identifiability of the standard single-equation stochastic frontier models with uncorrelated and correlated error components giving, inter alia, mathematical content to the notion of “near-identifiability” of a statistical model. It is seen that these models are at least locally identifiable but suffer from the “near-identifiability” problem. Our results also highlight the pivotal role played by the Signal to Noise Ratio in the “near-identifiablity” of the stochastic frontier models. |
| Keywords: | Identification; Stochastic frontier model; Information Matrix; Signal to Noise Ratio |
| JEL: | C10 C52 C31 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8032&r=eff |