Sources Of Productivity Growth Research Articles

Analysis of Coconut Production Trends under Three Policy Phases in Nigeria

ABSTRACT: Coconut is an important crop with numerous economic uses. However, it is not clear how coconut production has performed overtime considering policy inconsistencies within the Nigerian agricultural space. This study therefore measures trends in area, yield and production from a policy standpoint. The study measures growth rates, patterns of growth, sources of production growth and instability. The policy focus is centered on Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). Data used for the study covers 1961 – 2017, broken into three sub-periods. The findings reveal structural weaknesses arising from slow adoption of new technology, occasioned by inadequate human and financial capital, a disjointed value chain system operating within a weak enabling environment and reliance on inherited land which reduces overtime thereby limiting expansion options for farmers; resulting in patterns of growth that show stagnation and deceleration in the sub-periods. To this end, in a bid to reverse this trend, the study recommends the need for a national coconut policy aimed at improving access to land, new technology, training, farm settlements and access to single digit loan rates that actively target youths in the coconut value chain, this initiative should accelerate the growth performance of coconut considering the immense benefit coconut offers.
 Keywords: Coconut; Decomposition; Growth rate; Growth pattern; Instability

Inter-industry and intra-industry switching as sources of productivity growth: structural change of Finland’s ICT industries

Structural change is an important driver of productivity growth at the aggregate level. While previous productivity decompositions account for the contributions of market entry and exit, they overlook continuing firms that switch from one industry to another. We develop an improved productivity decomposition that accounts for both intra-industry and inter-industry switching, is applicable to both static and inter-temporal settings, and ensures consistent aggregation of firm-level productivity to the industry level. The proposed decomposition is applied to Finland’s information and communication technology (ICT) industry in the first two decades of the 21st century. This industry experienced major structural changes due to the rapid downfall of Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer at the beginning of our study period. Our results reveal that the sharp decline of labor productivity was associated with structural changes, whereas the surviving firms that continued in the same industry managed to improve their productivity. Our results indicate that industry switching can dampen or enhance the productivity impacts of structural change, especially during times of crisis and recession.

Malmquist index evaluation of countries: 2000–2019

One of the sophisticated mathematical techniques for evaluating the relative efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs) in a multi-inputs-output setting is data envelopment analysis. A non-parametric productivity index called the Malmquist index (MI) tracks changes in a DMU’s overall factor output over time. This study seeks to present a broad overview of the changes in the MI for nearly all of the world’s nations over 19 years beginning in 3061. This research evaluates a time series data set made up of 16 economic indexes. Each nation’s MI, which compares 2000 and 2019, shows how each nation has changed over that period. One of the most important purposes of this study comparing the countries by their MI is that it allows for a fair comparison of productivity across different time periods and regions. It also provides insights into the sources of productivity growth, such as changes in technology or improvements in efficiency. As a result, the countries can allocate resources more wisely and develop more effective investment plans by understanding the elements that lead to productivity increase. By implementing some statistical techniques, nations are further divided into four categories based on their MI. Furthermore, a yearly distribution of the MI has been included to illustrate its trends between the years 2000 to 2019. Finally, the changing flow for some countries of each category is shown in three-year tracks.

Sources of Productivity Growth in the Indonesian Manufacturing Industries

<p><big>Generating output growth by adding more inputs into the production process may not be sustainable in the long run for any economy, given the limited resources. On the other hand, if productivity growth dominates the production process, it will generate more output without excessive increase in input use. Hence, this paper examines whether the output growth in Indonesia’s manufacturing sector is excessive inputs driven or productivity driven. Productivity driven growth is measured by Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth, which is decomposed into its major components of technological progress and technical efficiency within the framework of varying coefficients stochastic frontier analysis (VSFA) using Indonesia’s annual Large and Medium Manufacturing Industries Survey data over the period 2002–2014. The measurement of the components of TFP growth not only provides more insights and better understanding of the dynamic nature of the production processes, but also has important policy implications. The mean TFP growth during the period 2002-2014 was estimated to be 4.3 per cent and was mostly contributed by technological progress experienced by firms. The policy implication is that technical efficiency could still be improved for the selected technology to reap the full benefit of increasing output from the chosen technology.</big></p>

Sources of productivity growth in Eastern Europe and Russia before the global financial crisis

Sources of productivity growth in Eastern Europe and Russia before the global financial crisis

Technical Efficiency and Productivity Change in the European Union with Undesirable Output Considered

Global competition and climate change are changing the nature of economic activity and impose the urgent need to have environmentally sensitive productivity growth. The paper addresses both desirable and undesirable output to assess technical efficiency and productivity changes, as well as evaluate the importance of an energy input in the production function and productivity change differentials in the European Union (EU) over the period 2000–2018. To that end, it uses output-oriented data envelopment analysis and Malmquist productivity analysis. The results reveal that the EU is facing significant challenges due to a decreasing trend in technical efficiency and slow productivity growth. The absence of major improvements in human resource performance has reduced the benefits of technological innovations which are the main source of productivity growth. Additionally, the results show that energy use did not critically influence efficiency and productivity.

Sources of production growth in Chinese agriculture:empirical evidence from penal data results 2001–2018

ABSTRACT First of all, this article uses the regional panel data of Chinese agriculture ranging from 2001–2018 as samples, taking the relationship among the three, namely, factor allocation efficiency, biased technical progress and agricultural total factor productivity, as the entry point to systematically analyse the fluctuation of total factor productivity growth and its decomposition terms. Then, the bias index of technical progress and factor allocation are measured by relaxing the strict assumption of alternative elastic fixation and broadening the traditional hypothesis of neutral technical progress by using C-D functions, respectively. Finally, this article puts highlight on the following questions: What is the source of sustained growth of agricultural TFP at this stage? Which factor does the agricultural factor allocation efficiency depend on? Whether there are existing distortion and bias in agricultural factor allocation and if the bias of which is in step with agricultural-biased technical progress?

(Are) Institutions More Important Than Innovation?

: The aim of this article is to shed more light on the effects of technological innovation on economic progress from the institutionalist perspective. Based on historical data on economic growth and technological changes in the United States, we question the assumption of mainstream economics that innovation, performed by profit-making enterprises, is a key source of productivity growth. The difference between the golden age and the period since suggests that economic progress is primarily determined by a successfully functioning institutional structure and progressive institutional changes.

Returns to Factors of Production and Total Factor Productivity in Coconut Plantations in Sri Lanka

The objective of this study was to identify the sources of productivity growth of the Sri Lankan coconut sector by decomposing the measured growth in total factor productivity into technological change and returns to scale. Technical change is reflected through the shift in the cost function where returns to scale is represented by the cost/output elasticity. This was achieved by linking the productivity growth to key parameters of a specific cost function. The study used cost of production data over the period 1961-2016 and specified a stochastic generalized translog cost function. Parameters were estimated using Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) method. Estimation of the share of factor inputs in the total cost revealed that coconut cultivation is characterized by high labour share (61-67 %) and low material share (24-27 %) followed by low capital share (9-12 %). According to the results, the total factor productivity (TFP) was found to have grown at 0.083% per annum. Decomposing TFP, we found that technological change and scale of economies contributed to 78% and 22% of the TFP growth, respectively. The contribution of technical progress was greater towards the end of the considered time period while diseconomies of scale was operating throughout the period. Based on this, we recommend that the focus of the coconut sector development should be on technological interventions rather than the consolidation of coconut land.

Speedier delivery: coastal shipping times and speeds during the Age of Sail †

AbstractThere is a debate about whether coastal shipping experienced substantial productivity growth prior to the advent of steam power. To study changes over the long eighteenth century, this article uses thousands of coastal journey times culled from Board of Trade crew lists between 1835 and 1844 and coastal port books for the mid‐to‐late 1600s, along with a newly digitized coastal network. Comparisons between matched samples show that journey speeds, defined as miles sailed per day, were significantly higher in the crew lists compared to the port books, and that voyage cycle times, defined as days between starting two identical voyages, were substantially lower. The study also shows that voyage times in the east coast coal trade were substantially lower around 1840 than around 1700, but the difference was much smaller when peace years are compared. These new data imply that total factor productivity growth in the east coast coal trade was significant, especially if one accounts for gains from peace after 1815. The findings contribute to the larger literature studying the rate and sources of productivity growth during the industrial revolution.

Climatic effects and total factor productivity: econometric evidence for Wisconsin dairy farms

Abstract This study exploits temporal and cross-sectional variation in weather and long-run climate trends to investigate their effects on farm-level productivity. Using panel data for a sample of Wisconsin dairy producers, three stochastic production frontier models are estimated and a random parameters approach is chosen as the most desirable, which accounts for stochastic observed and unobserved environmental factors. The estimated coefficients are used to decompose a multiplicative total factor productivity index that accounts for different sources of productivity growth. Annual productivity growth is estimated at 2.16 per cent, driven primarily by technical progress (1.91 per cent per annum). The average per year contribution of the other productivity components is: climate adaptation efforts −0.31 per cent; scale-mix efficiency change +0.13 per cent and technical efficiency +0.05 per cent.

The Productivity Puzzle: Restoring Economic Dynamism

US labor productivity has been stagnating since 2005 onward, averaging growth of only 1.3% a year since then, as opposed to 2.8% annual growth over the previous decade starting in 1995. The United States is not alone: According to McKinsey & Company data, labor productivity growth rates remain near historic lows in many other advanced economies. The slowdown in productivity growth in these economies is a problem — and a puzzle. The Productivity Puzzle: Restoring Economic Dynamism, edited by David E. Adler and Laurence B. Siegel, is an anthology of essays about this mysterious stagnation in productivity. It provides new policy solutions in addition to analyses of the problem. The book’s central innovation is that it is interdisciplinary. Traditional macroeconomics has trouble fully explaining the productivity puzzle because the sources of productivity growth often lie in a country’s specific economic practices and institutions. These institutional differences are better captured by political economists, historians, and social thinkers than by macroeconomists. But productivity also has macroeconomic components, including interest rate regimes and terms and amounts of trade, which are typically missing from political or institutional analyses. That is, neither the macroeconomic nor the institutional approach is adequate to fully capture all the drivers of productivity growth. As a result, the anthology consists of authors writing from multiple perspectives, not just mainstream economics or finance. The book offers analyses that investors may be unfamiliar with, including statistical debates about productivity measurement and the decline in US manufacturing employment, little-known interest rate mechanisms that might drive misallocations of the economy to lower productivity sectors, and institutional deficiencies in the US innovation “system” that make it hard for those in the United States to translate academic research into actual manufacturing processes as is done in Germany and Japan. Essays in the anthology explore whether the United States is still a start-up nation, implications for the economy of the rise of superstar firms, and finally, whether the United States is abandoning its commitment to free market competition. The increase in market concentration means that cellphone plans, internet service, and airline tickets are now more expensive in the United States than in Europe. Contributors to the book come from a variety of backgrounds and tend to have a global perspective. They include central bankers, political scientists who study innovation, financial economists, and the Nobel Laureate Edmund Phelps. The book consists in part of the proceedings from the landmark conference on productivity and dynamism, organized by the editors, that took place at the Museum of American Finance in New York in November 2017 and of which the CFA Institute Research Foundation was a sponsor, along with other firms and organizations. These proceedings have been augmented here by essays relevant to the topic, selected by the editors. These new analyses present innovation solutions to the problems the book discusses. Understanding the drivers of productivity stagnation and growth is vitally important for everyone, including investors. As Paul Krugman has said, “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it is almost everything.” We are thus very pleased to present The Productivity Puzzle: Restoring Economic Dynamism. We believe it is a substantial contribution to the literature on the sources of, and obstacles to, economic progress.

Research Contribution for Rice Productivity Growth in Gujarat: As Reflected by TFP and RRI

The TFP growth of rice and its sources in Gujarat state from 1990–91 to 2011-12has been analyzed. The Tornqvist Theil Index has been used to calculate the total output, total input, and total factor productivity indices. Compound growth rates were worked out using semi-log trend equation. Two outputs and ten inputs have been used to construct output and input indices. The TFP growth of rice was stagnant (0.35percent) in 1990s, as both the input and output indices were increased at lower rates. But it moderately increased to around 1 percent per annum during the 2000s. With incorporation of technological change, rice output increased annually by 1.48 percent during 1990–91 to 2011–12. This has helped to keep the real cost of production near about stagnant from 2000s onwards, which was increased by 1.50 percent per annum in 1990s. The contribution of TFP to output growth for rice remained high about 92.16 percent during last two decades in Gujarat. This reveals that Gujarat has shown an outstanding performance of TFP growth in rice. This is credited to the release of popular varieties viz., GR-101 in 1984, GR-103 in 1990, GR-6 in 1991, Gurjari in 1997, Dandi and GR-7 in 2000, GR-8 in 2001, GR-12 in 2004, NAUR-1 in 2008, GAR-13 in 2009 and GAR-1 in 2010, in the state by the then GAU and SAUs, remarkably increased the productivity of paddy. The investment on paddy research generated annually 34.70 percent IRR found to be a high paying proposition in study period. The sources of productivity growth indicated that public investment in agricultural research, transfer of technology (extension), good monsoon and development of irrigation potential has constituted a significant source of TFP growth in rice.

Assessment of R&D and its impact on Indian manufacturing industries

An important source of productivity growth, technological change and hence increased welfare of a country is Research and Development (R&D). Thus, it is absolutely important to develop a country's R&D sector. However, developing countries have traditionally relied largely on import of technologies from developed countries, rather than domestic R&D for driving their technological change. India too has been no exception. But, like any other developing country, India too needs to make continuous investment either to adopt foreign technology or to develop its own capacities via R&D activities. Presently, India's R&D expenditure is merely 2.1% of total global expenditure. Against this backdrop, the present study computes elasticity of industry-level TPF with respect to R&D content of intermediates, both domestic and foreign, for industries in India. The results show that R&D stocks embodied in intermediates have contributed to productivity growth in these industries. Particularly, noteworthy is this elasticity for low-R&D industries, like, processed food, textile and wearing apparels, motor vehicles etc.

Co-Movements Between Key Components Of Aggregate Productivity And Real Exchange Dynamics In Developing Countries

The relationship between productivity growth and the real exchange rate has dominated the field of international economics for a long time. However, previous empirical studies do not focus on the nexus between real exchange rate and unraveling sources of productivity growth, i.e., technical change and several exhaustive measures of efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the real exchange rate and key components of aggregate productivity for a sample of countries in four developing country regions. Our methodology proceeds in two stages. First, a non-parametric method is used to estimate the Hicks-Moorsteen total factor productivity (HMTFP) change, which is decomposed into technical change and different exhaustive measures of efficiency change. This methodology allows one to extract different exhaustive measures of efficiency change. Second, system-GMM models are used to explore the dynamics of the real exchange rate and different components of productivity while controlling for other exchange rate fundamentals and civil conflicts. The results for total factor productivity (TFP) and TFP efficiency indicates that the TFP has not changed much in the sample period. In addition, the average TFP efficiency has remained relatively low because only a few countries defined the best practice frontier while a majority of the countries operated below this frontier. In particular, Africa has lagged behind other regions in terms of TFP improvement. Our results also indicate that the main differences in TFP change are explained by differences in efficiency, an indication of disparities in the use of available technology across countries and regions. We also find that a positive change in technological innovation and its diffusion tend to appreciate the real exchange rate. These results are robust across different model specifications. Two key policy implications can be extrapolated from our results. First, our results show significant differences in the evolution of different components of TFP across regions; indications that policy targets to improve productivity growth across regions are unlikely to be uniform. Second, our results also show that policies that target specific drivers of productivity change have the potential to also influence the international competitiveness of a country through the real exchange rate-technological-efficiency change linkages.

Banks efficiency and productivity in Togo after the financial liberalization: a combined Malmquist index approach

ABSTRACTThe objective of this study is to analyze the productivity growth of Togolese banks. The study period (2000–2008) corresponds to the post-financial liberalization in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) zone and the third phase of a changed banking and financial environment. We develop a new combined Malmquist index based on ‘P-index II’ in order to estimate the total factor productivity (TFP) growth and its components. The empirical results show that the TFP has considerably increased for the whole industry, in which technical change is found to be a more important source of productivity growth to Togolese banks compared to efficiency change. In line with this, it is indicated that the financial liberalization does not improve the technical efficiencies of banks in Togo on a whole.

The influence of the processes of design and redesign of construction works on the performance of the production for the enterprises of building Industry

Design and redesign of construction works is a formal and informal specification relating to the actions of the individual, including both structural and interpersonal aspects of the work, taking into account the needs and demands of both the organization and the individual. The term “redesign of construction work” necessarily implies such operational approaches and methods as change of work, growing responsibilities, ergonomic factors, enrichment of work, the design of socio-technical systems, formation of teams performance/productivity, streamline production operations, etc. The systematic redesign of works usually use either methods related to the solution of employment problems on an individual basis, from time to time, or methods of diagnosis, evaluation and improvement of work organization in the framework of a larger program aimed at improving productivity and quality of working life. When “appropriate” task or problem set before “according” by a group or individuals and used “appropriate” group process, the results can be exceptional and serve as an effective source of productivity growth and efficiency of construction companies.

Schumpeterian and semi‐endogenous productivity growth explanations

AbstractThis paper examines the nature and sources of productivity growth in South African manufacturing sectors, from an international comparative perspective. On panel data estimations, we find that the evidence tends to support Schumpeterian explanations of productivity growth for a panel of countries including both developed and developing countries, and a panel of South African manufacturing sectors. By contrast, semi‐endogenous productivity growth is supported for a panel of OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) manufacturing sectors. However, we also report evidence that suggests that sectors are not homogeneous. For this reason, time series evidence may be more reliable than panel data. Time series evidence for South Africa suggests that prospects for the sustained productivity growth associated with Schumpeterian innovation processes, is restricted to a narrow set of sectors. For the OECD manufacturing sectors, both semi‐endogenous and Schumpeterian growth finds support. Schumpeterian growth is present for a larger number of sectors than for South Africa, and is most prevalent in the North American economies.

To Mix or Specialise? A Coordination Productivity Indicator for English and Welsh farms

AbstractThis paper introduces a nonparametric measure of coordination productivity growth where the subprocesses are explicitly modelled in the production technology. The coordination productivity indicator is decomposed into a coordination technical inefficiency change component and a coordination technical change component. This decomposition allows assessment of reallocation impacts on the different sources of productivity growth. The empirical application focuses on a large panel of English and Welsh farms over the period 2007–2013. The results show that coordination inefficiency significantly increases with the proportion of resources allocated to livestock production in economic and statistical terms. Coordination inefficient farms should generally allocate more land to crop production. Depending on the region, the average coordination productivity growth ranges from −9.7% to 15.9% per year. It is driven by coordination technical change rather than coordination inefficiency change.

Internet as a global trend of network society and informatsionizm

Presents the evolution of the Internet as a global trend iformatsionalizmu and network society. Internet facilitated the development of cyberspace, deterministic paradigm of information technology, which contributed to the formation of a computer network. It reveals that communication in its coverage of the global environment on the basis of self-organizing network, creating the phenomenon of network society. The emergence of new global information economy contributed to the emergence of new organizational forms - the enterprise network. The conclusion is that the new economy is headed today Internet business is the economy that is driven by information technology and is organized around computer networks. That information economy is the source of productivity growth and wealth creation in the information age