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on Efficiency and Productivity |
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Issue of 2013‒08‒23
twelve papers chosen by |
| By: | Bogetic, Zeljko; Olusi, Olasupo |
| Abstract: | This note presents the results of an empirical analysis of firm-level productivity growth in Russia's manufacturing sector during the period 2003-08 using a rich Amadeus database as well as the recent EBRD/World Bank Business Enterprise and Performance surveys (BEEPs). The results show that productivity grew steadily between 2003 and 2008, with an annual growth rate averaging 4 percent over the period, showing no signs of a slowdown from the previous period after the 1998 crisis. Firm characteristics such as size, location, age, and the structure of firm ownership are important determinants of productivity, as evidenced by positive effects of scale economies (large firm effect), agglomeration (Moscow-city effect), private ownership, and a firm's industry dominance. Supplemental analysis of the quality of infrastructure -- water, electricity, transport, and the internet -- using BEEPS data show that infrastructure quality gaps reduce firm productivity with water supply gaps having the largest impact. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy&Planning,E-Business,Economic Theory&Research,Microfinance,Municipal Financial Management |
| Date: | 2013–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6572&r=eff |
| By: | Sophie Osotimehin |
| Abstract: | RThis paper proposes a novel decomposition of aggregate productivity to evaluate the role of resource reallocation for the cyclical dynamics of aggregate productivity. The decomposition, which is derived from the aggregation of heterogeneous firm-level production functions, accounts for changes in allocative efficiency, as well as for changes in entry and exit. This approach thereby extends Solow (1957)’s growth accounting exercise to a framework with firm heterogeneity and frictions in the allocation of resources across firms. I apply the decomposition to a comprehensive dataset of French manufacturing and service firms and find that entry and exit contribute little to the year-on-year variability of aggregate productivity. Resource reallocation across incumbent firms, however, plays an important role in the dynamics of aggregate productivity. The efficiency of resource allocation improves during downturns and tend to reduce the volatility of aggregate productivity |
| Keywords: | aggregate productivity, aggregate fluctuations, resource allocation, entry and exit, cleansing |
| JEL: | E32 O47 D24 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vir:virpap:404&r=eff |
| By: | Neil Foster-McGregor (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Anders Isaksson; Florian Kaulich |
| Abstract: | This paper adds to the small but growing literature that considers a relationship between the way a firm serves foreign markets and its subsequent performance. The current paper is the first to consider this issue for a sample of sub-Saharan African countries and includes data on both manufacturing and services firms. Results from a number of parametric and non-parametric tests for manufacturing industries indicate that there is a clear productivity ordering with firms undertaking outward FDI performing best, followed by exporters with domestically oriented firms performing least well. The results for services firms are more nuanced and indicate that while exporters and firms undertaking outward FDI are more productive than domestically oriented firms, there is no significant difference in productivity between these two types of firms. Despite this, average productivity and point estimates from the regression analysis on services firms suggest that the productivity of exporting firms is larger than that for firms undertaking outward FDI. |
| Keywords: | exports, foreign direct investment, productivity, services firms |
| JEL: | F14 F21 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:97&r=eff |
| By: | Adrian Babin (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a Latent Class Stochastic Frontier Approach to factor out the heterogeneity in the data and to provide evidence on the existence of different bank technologies in international banking with different response schedules to external shocks and diverse constraints. We use an unbalanced panel of 756 banks from 77 countries during 2005-2010 for this purpose. Using bank level structural variables we determine four different profit and cost banking technologies in the data. Further analysis indicates heterogeneity not only among the level of profit and cost efficiency, but also regarding the response of banks to the crisis. Interestingly, we find that banks from the same class but from different regions had a different efficiency evolution over the period. Moreover, we document the existence of banks that are more predisposed to be efficient in certain regions than in others. Finally, we document that banks have several potential options for rebalancing the balance sheet for improving the efficiency, albeit some of these strategies have opposite effects on the profit and cost efficiency. |
| Keywords: | efficiency, heterogeneity, crisis, latent classes |
| JEL: | G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2013_08&r=eff |
| By: | Cette, G.; Lopez, J.; Mairesse,J. |
| Abstract: | Our study aims at assessing the actual importance of the two main channels usually contemplated in the literature through which upstream sector anticompetitive regulations may impact productivity growth: business investments in R&D and in ICT. We thus precisely try to estimate what are the specific impacts of these two channels and their shares in total impact as against alternative channels of investments in other forms of intangible capital such as improvements in skills, management and organization. For this, we specify an extended production function relating productivity explicitly to R&D and ICT capital as well as to upstream regulations, and two factor demand functions relating R&D and ICT capital to upstream regulations. These relations are estimated on a panel of 14 OECD countries and 13 industries over the period 1987-2007. Our estimates confirm the results of previous similar studies finding that the impact of upstream regulations on total factor productivity can be sizeable, and they provide evidence that a good part of the total impact, though not a predominant one, goes through both investments in ICT and R&D, and particularly the latter. |
| Keywords: | Productivity, Growth, Regulations, Competition, Catch-up, R&D, ICT |
| JEL: | O43 L5 O33 O57 L16 C23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:441&r=eff |
| By: | Serafinelli, Michel |
| Abstract: | I present direct evidence on the role of firm-to-firm labor mobility in enhancing the productivity of firms located near highly productive firms. Using matched employer-employee and balance sheet data for the Veneto region of Italy, I identify a set of high-wage firms (HWF) and show they are more productive than other firms. I then show that hiring a worker with HWF experience increases the productivity of other (non-HWF) firms. A simulation indicates that worker flows explain 10-15 percent of the productivity gains experienced by other firms when HWFs in the same industry are added to a local labor market. |
| Keywords: | productivity, agglomeration advantages, linked employer-employee data, labor mobility. |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 R2 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:49055&r=eff |
| By: | Tasso Adamopoulos; Diego Restuccia |
| Abstract: | There are striking differences in the size distribution of farms between rich and poor countries. We study the determinants of farm-size across countries and their impact on agricultural and aggregate productivity by developing a quantitative model of agriculture and non-agriculture that features a non-degenerate size distribution of farms. We find that differences in measured aggregate factors such as capital, land, and economy-wide productivity account for 1/4 of the observed differences in farm size and productivity. Farm-level policies that misallocate resources from large and productive farms to small and less productive farms are prevalent in poor countries and have the potential to account for the remaining differences. We assess the quantitative importance of misallocation in two ways. First, we construct a summary measure of farm-size distortions across countries by exploiting within-country variation in crop-specific price distortions and their correlation with crop farm size. This measure and aggregate factors jointly account for more than 1/2 of the cross-country differences in size and productivity. Second, we quantify the effects of specific policies in developing countries: a land reform that imposes a ceiling on farm size and a progressive land tax. We find that each individual policy generates a reduction of 3 to 7 percent in size and productivity. |
| Keywords: | Aggregate productivity, agriculture, farm-size distortions, misallocation. |
| JEL: | O11 O13 O4 E0 |
| Date: | 2013–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-494&r=eff |
| By: | Neil Foster-McGregor (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Anders Isaksson; Florian Kaulich |
| Abstract: | This paper examines productivity differences between internationally trading and non-trading firms using data on a sample of firms from 19 sub-Saharan African countries. The paper provides the first evidence of whether exporters, importers and two-way traders perform better than non-traders, and whether there are differences in performance between different types of trading firms in sub-Saharan Africa. Our results indicate that exporters, importers and two-way traders perform better than non-exporters, non-importers and non two-way traders. We further find that two-way traders perform better than importers only or exporters only, results largely consistent with recent results for other countries and regions. Considering information on export starters, continuers and exiters we also present some evidence consistent with both self-selection and learning-by-exporting. |
| Keywords: | firm-level performance, importers, exporters |
| JEL: | D24 F10 M20 L10 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:96&r=eff |
| By: | Blanc, Elodie; Strobl, Eric |
| Abstract: | This study estimates and compares the effects of small and large irrigation dams on cropland productivity in South Africa. To this end, a panel data set of South African river basins is constructed. The econometric analysis reveals that although large dams increase cropland productivity downstream, they have a negative effect on cropland within the vicinity. However, their existence can enhance the relatively small positive impact of local small dams. Although a cost-benefit analysis of irrigation benefits shows that small dams may be more viable than large ones, large dams can play a potentially important role within a system of both types of dams. |
| Keywords: | River Basin Management,Dams and Reservoirs,Hydro Power,Water and Energy,Water Supply and Systems |
| Date: | 2013–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6567&r=eff |
| By: | Langen, P.W. de; Heij, C. |
| Abstract: | Port of Rotterdam Authority is a publicly owned but corporatized port development company. In 2004, this organisation was transformed from a municipal department to an independently operating company. The corporatisation intended to improve the overall performance of the port of Rotterdam. Relevant performance indicators to evaluate the effect of this corporatisation include market share, turnover, operating costs, profits, and investments. These indicators are evaluated for two periods, one prior to the corporatisation (1997-2003) and the other afterwards (2005-2011). The comparison of these two periods shows that corporatisation has led to significant performance improvements. This finding is relevant for the ongoing discussion on port governance models. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureir:1765038817&r=eff |
| By: | Petra Valickova (Charles University, Prague); Tomas Havranek; Roman Horvath |
| Abstract: | We analyze 1334 estimates from 67 studies that examine the effect of financial development on economic growth. Taken together, the studies imply a positive and statistically significant effect, but individual estimates vary a lot. We find that both research design and heterogeneity in the underlying effect play a role in explaining the differences in results. Studies that do not address endogeneity tend to overstate the effect of finance on growth. While the effect seems to be weaker in poor countries, the effect decreases worldwide after the 1980s. Our results suggest that stock markets support faster economic growth than other financial intermediaries. We find no evidence of publication bias in the literature. |
| Keywords: | finance, development, growth, meta-analysis |
| JEL: | C83 G10 O40 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:331&r=eff |
| By: | Bolt, Wilko; Humphrey, David |
| Abstract: | Banks supply payment services that underpin the smooth operation of the economy. To ensure an efficient payment system, it is important to maintain competition among payment service providers but data available to gauge the degree of competition are quite limited. We propose and implement a frontierbased method to assess relative competition in bank-provided payment services. Billion dollar banks account for around ninety percent of assets in the US and those with around to billion in assets turn out to be both the most and the least competitive in payment services, not the very largest banks. JEL Classification: G21 L80 L00 |
| Keywords: | banks, competition, frontier analysis, payments |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20131539&r=eff |