Contribution Of Technical Change Research Articles

Measuring and explaining productivity growth of renewable energy producers: An empirical study of Austrian biogas plants

This study explores productivity growth of 65 Austrian biogas plants from 2006 to 2014 using Data Envelopment Analysis. Productivity growth is measured by calculating the Malmquist productivity index, and the contributions of technical change, efficiency change, and scale change to productivity growth are isolated. The results reveal that the average annual productivity growth between 2006 and 2014 is 1.1%. The decomposition of the Malmquist productivity index shows that the annual scale change, technical change, and efficiency change for the average plant is 0.6%, 0.3%, and 0.3%, respectively. These results indicate that the exploitation of returns to scale is a major driver of productivity growth and technical change is rather low. A second-stage regression analysis reveals that rising feedstock prices incentivized efficiency improvements but initial capital subsidies did not have an impact on technical change and productivity growth.

Farm Profit and Productivity - Analytical Study

Farm Profit change over time is first decomposed into a price effect and a quantity effect; the quantity effect is then decomposed into a productivity effect and an activity effect; in turn, the productivity effect is subdivided into a technical efficiency effect and a technical change effect, while the activity effect is divided into a scale effect, resource mix effect and product mix effect. The end result is therefore a measure of six distinct components of profit change. The methodology is used to investigate profit changes for a sample of cereal farms drawn from the Farm Business Survey in India for the period 2007 to 2013. The results of the analysis show an overall decline in profit levels for the period at the average speed of £4400 annually, with the major part of this decline attributable to a negative price effect amounting to £7000 annually on average. However, this was to some degree offset by a positive quantity effect largely driven by the positive contribution of technical change to profit growth, worth £4000 annually on average. The pattern of development and trends in productivity and profitability have been analysed to find whether Indian agriculture meets the requirements of sustainable development. The study is based on the secondary data culled from the publications of the Department of Agriculture and Department of Statistics, Govt. of India. A tremendous development and spectacular growth have been observed in agriculture during the past five decades, 1949–50 to 1999–2000. However, there has not been any spectacular modification in the technology since 1980s, leading to a continuous deceleration in the rates of growth of both production and productivity of most crops in recent years. Because of decline in yield, the economic condition of farmers has deteriorated. On the other side, non-agricultural sector has shown a growth of 6 per cent. This increasing disparity between per capita income of agricultural and non-agricultural sectors is likely to raise social disorder in the farming class. Our study used cost-benefit and econometric analysis to draw difference between productivity and profit components in the agriculture sector.

The Relative Role of Imports and Exports in Explaining Productivity of Indian Bio-Pharmaceutical Firms: Evidence from Non Parametric Data Envelopment Analysis

This article estimates total factor productivity growth of eighteen Indian bio-pharmaceutical firms for the period 2000–2009, using Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) and non-parametric, Data-Envelopment-Approach. The measured MPI is decomposed to separate the contributions of technical change, technical efficiency change and scale efficiency change of each of the firm. The article also explains for determinants of productivity taking into account the role of net exports, Research and Development, Advertisement and Marketing intensity, age and size of the firm. Estimation results suggest that most of the firms show improved performance of productivity growth rate during this post liberalization period. A second stage panel regression reveals that net exports have positive role in explaining MPI of the firms, assigning greater role to exports as compared to imports in fostering productivity. The other positive and significant determinants of MPI are Research and Development intensity, Advertisement intensity, the age and the size of the firm.

Productividad total de los factores, cambio técnico, eficiencia técnica y pib potencial en Latinoamérica

In this article the factor productivity of a group of Latin American economies is calculated and the contribution of technical change and technical efficiency is analyzed according to the economic growth of the region. In order to calculate technical change and technicalefficiency, a Cobb Douglas production function is estimated based on two comparable methodologies: Fixed effects data panel and stochastic frontier. It can be concluded that for the annual data sample for 1980 – 2009 there is a light drop in the technical efficiency and an increase in technical progress for the majority of the country. The most efficient countries are: Panama, Uruguay and Mexico and the less efficient ones are Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras and Paraguay.

Assessing productivity change with SFA in the sheep sector of Greece

The objective of this paper is to measure total factor productivity growth in a panel of sheep farms in Greece and assess the relative contribution of technical change, technical efficiency change and scale efficiency change in observed productivity growth. Such decomposition can be useful in planning well defined policies which can support the sector’s sustainable development via the optimization of input/output use. A stochastic frontier production function approach is adopted and maximum likelihood is used to estimate the parameters. The data used for the econometric estimation are obtained from the Greek Farm Accounting Data Network for the period 1997–2002. TFP has been growing in the sector but at a diminishing rate. The major determinant of productivity growth is technical change, which has been shifting the frontier by 2.4% on average during this period, but is counteracted to some extent by technical and scale inefficiency each reducing TFP growth by about 0.3% p.a.

Efficiency and technical progress: sources of convergence in the Spanish regions

The paper analyses the contribution of efficiency as a mechanism of labour productivity convergence, taking as the unit of analysis the Spanish regions in the period 1964–1993. Using the stochastic frontier approach, a translogarithmic production function is estimated for the different sectors of the Spanish regional economy, demonstrating on this basis the existence of substantial differences in efficiency between sectors as well as between regions. With regard to convergence, the results obtained indicate that at aggregate level the convergence observed in labour productivity is explained by the faster growth of the capital-labour ratio of the initially poorer regions and the contribution of technical change and the efficiency, hence by the convergence of TFP. However, the information by sectors shows different results. Thus, on the one hand, the importance of the convergence in production per employee is seen in all sectors except agriculture and, on the other it is observed that technical change is a factor of convergence in all sectors but construction, and, qualitatively, the contribution of technical change is greater than the contribution of efficiency. By sectors, technical change contributed significantly to labour productivity convergence in agriculture, but the faster growth of the capital-labour ratio of the rich regions acted as a mechanism of divergence, completely counteracting the technological catching-up effect. It is further concluded that, as well as the contribution of the accumulation of factors, the positive evolution of efficiency in the poorest regions favoured convergence in the construction and industry sectors, whereas technical progress was decisive in industry and the services sectors.

Parametric analysis of cost inefficiency and the decomposition of productivity growth for regulated firms

This paper examines the contributions of technical change, scale economies, regulation, and efficiency on productivity growth in the interstate natural gas pipeline industry. Following Bauer (1990) productivity growth for firms subject to regulation is decomposed into technical change, scale economies, regulation, and efficiency components. The data sample consists of 20 pipeline companies and covers the period 1977 to 1987. Results indicate that scale economies, cost inefficiency, and regulation on average accounted for 64%, 16%, and 4% of productivity growth respectively. Cost efficiency declined over the sample period, most of which can be attributed to technical inefficiency.

Technology and Produtivity of Cement Industry in India - A Case Study of Fifteen Cement Companies

The paper has been divided into two sections. In the first section, an attempt has been made to examine the theoretical framework underlying technical change affecting productivity. In the second section, the contribution of technical change to productivity in cement Industry has been measured.

The Sources of Increased Efficiency: A Study of DuPont Rayon Plants

An extraordinary opportunity offered by the Du Pont Company gave Professor Hollander free access both to all detailed cost and much investment data related to rayon manufacture at a number of plants, covering a period of thirty years and to a wide range of informed personnel and officers. These data enabled Professor Hollander to make an unprecedented study of a large industrial firm for the purpose of measuring the contribution of various sources of improvement to increased efficiency. From the mass of information available, he has selected sound technical details and concepts, excluded all irrelevant material, and presented a carefully organized case study showing how technical change accounts for a very high proportion of the increases in productivity. Specifically, this information includes descriptions of the contributions of various types of technical change to production cost reductions, quantitative estimates of the contributions of technical change and economies of scale to increased efficiency, and analyses of the relation between technical change and investment and of the sources of new technology. The microeconomic approach is related to certain macrostudies of productivity increase, and several policy implications are drawn. This study should be of great interest to a wide audience including economists, economic historians, and technologists. All those concerned with the problems of economic growth, industrial structure, patent protection, technical invention, research and development, and the general progress of civilian industrial technology will find this book a valuable addition to their libraries.