LONDON (Reuters UK) - Productivity growth slowed markedly in the first three months of the year, official data showed on Monday. The Office for National Statistics said UK output per worker rose by an annual 0.6 percent in the first quarter, down from 1.6 percent...
This paper discussion addresses two points concerning the gap between productivity growth and wage growth in this business cycle. First, it shows that the redistribution from labor to capital that has taken place thus far in this business cycle is in fact typical for the early part of a business...
This paper employs the directional technology distance function and present estimates of bank efficiency and productivity change in ten Central and Eastern European countries for the period 1998-2003. The method allows the aggregation of individual bank inefficiency and productivity growth to the industry level and enables us to investigate potential...
We examine the relationships between productivity growth, IT investment and organisational change DO using UK firm data. Consistent with the small number of other micro studies we find a IT appears to have high returns in a growth accounting sense when DO is omitted; when DO is included the IT...
It is now widely recognized that Information Technology IT was the key to the dramatic acceleration of U.S. labor productivity growth in the mid-1990s. This paper traces the evolution of productivity estimates to document how and when this perception emerged. Early studies concluded that IT was relatively unimportant. It was...
This paper examines the dynamic relation between firm demography and aggregate productivity firm in Sweden during the period 1997-2003. By using enterprise demography data, the interaction between micro dynamics and aggregate productivity growth is discerned. The result of the decomposition shows that the contribution of entry and exit of firms...
This paper provides a description and a discussion of some important aspects relating to productivity developments in the euro area. Following decades of stronger gains in the euro area than in the US, labour productivity growth has fallen behind that in the US in last few years. This reflects a...
This paper presents a trade model with firm-level productivity differences and R&D-driven growth. Trade liberalization causes the least productive firms to exit but also slows the development of new products. The overall effect on productivity growth depends on the size of intertemporal knowledge spillovers in R&D (Research & Development). When...
We examine the relationships between productivity growth, IT investment and organisational change (?O) using UK firm panel data. Consistent with the small number of other micro studies we find: IT appears to have high returns in a growth accounting sense when ?O is omitted; when ?O is included the IT...
A basic tenet of economic science is that productivity growth is the source of growth in real income per capita. But the results raise doubts. This paper creates a direct link between macro productivity growth and the evolution of the income distribution at the micro level. In addition to its...
Through domestic and international legislative reforms, various countries are adopting new and stronger intellectual property protections. A severe shortage of evidence exists as to the effects of Intellectual Property Rights IPRs on R&D and productivity growth, among other things. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to help enhance the...
Productivity growth is a driving factor for differential income levels across countries, which may be affected particularly for developing countries by technology transfer. The authors evaluate the existence and magnitudes of technology transfer productivity effects for Turkish manufacturing, based on imports, exports, licensing, and FDI Foreign Direct Investment, for plants...
In this paper labour productivity growth and its impacts are studied at the industry level. The development of productivity is analysed in 54 industries in 14 EU countries and in the US between 1979 and 2001. The conclusion of the study is that the industry structure that leads to fast...
This paper assesses whether productivity growth differentials between the U.S. and Europe in the distributive trade sector are real or mainly a statistical myth. New estimates of retail trade productivity are constructed, taking into account purchase prices of goods sold. U.S. wholesale productivity growth was also adjusted for the upward...
This paper is one of a series of papers planned to examine the role of Information and Communication Technologies ICT in productivity improvements in Australia. It follows the publication of Productivity Growth in Australian Manufacturing by the former National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE 2004). The paper reflects the...
A new industry-level dataset is used to quantify the role of ICT Information and Communication Technology in explaining productivity growth in the UK, 1970-2000. The dataset is for 34 industries covering the whole economy (31 in the market sector). Using growth accounting, it is found that ICT capital played an...
The impact of firm level productivity heterogeneity on export market entry has been the subject of theoretical innovation and extensive empirical scrutiny in last few years. The latter has focused on falling trade costs and firm level productivity, notwithstanding the fact that theory also points up links between trade and...
Productivity growth is the basis for improvements in real incomes and welfare. Slow productivity growth limits the rate at which real incomes can improve, and also increases the likelihood of conflicting demands concerning the distribution of income. Measures of productivity growth and of productivity levels therefore constitute important economic indicators....
Productivity growth is the key mechanism by which average income and welfare are improved: over the medium term faster productivity growth is associated with more rapid growth in real wages per worker and real consumption per capita. This paper has three objectives. Firstly, it updates the data presented in Englander...
Slow productivity growth has plagued the euro area since the mid-1990s. That is particularly striking in view of the large productivity gains in the United States during the same period. This paper shows that the deceleration in labor productivity in the euro area was caused by structural changes in wage...
