Measuring Total Factor Productivity: Growth Accounting for Bulgaria

Abstract

Total factor productivity measurement enables researchers to determine the contribution of supply-side production factors to economic growth. For Bulgaria, which is a transition economy, it is difficult to construct a production function with stable parameters, mostly because there are atypical developments of capital and labor during periods of economic growth, as well as due to the lack of sufficiently long and dependable data series. In this respect, growth accounting enables us to identify the basic sources and directions of influences. The calculations that have been carried out in this paper help in the identification of total factor productivity development as the main driving force of economic growth. The likely reasons for this strong influence have been also outlined.