International Comparisons of Levels of Capital Input and Multi-Factor Productivity

Abstract

International comparisons of levels of labour and capital inputs, outputs and productivity tend to receive a great deal of attention because they respond directly to policy-makers’ and analysts’ interest in measuring competitiveness, economic well-being of countries’ inhabitants and the intensity by which resources are used. Generally, such level comparisons are more diffi cult to put in place than comparisons of growth rates: data sources are more susceptible to problems of international comparability (Ahmad et al. 2004), and spatial price indices are required to account for differences in the levels of input or output prices.