Total Factor Productivity Analysis Research Articles

How green governance empowers high-quality development: An EKC framework-based analysis of ESG and green total factor productivity.

High-quality development represents a fundamental shift in China's economy from scale and speed to quality and efficiency. In this transition, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices are not only closely integrated with China's development strategy but have also become a core standard for measuring development quality. Nevertheless, research on how ESG practices specifically promote high-quality development in Chinese enterprises remains limited. Based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory framework, this study uses data from the Huazheng ESG Index from 2009 to 2022 and employs fixed effect models, mediation effect models, and heterogeneity analysis to examine the specific impact of China's ESG practices on corporate high-quality development from multiple dimensions. The results show that there is a "U-shaped" relationship between the ESG practices of Chinese listed companies and green total factor productivity (GTFP). Initially, improving ESG practices may temporarily suppress GTFP, but as ESG levels further improve, they exhibit a significant positive impact on GTFP. Corporations significantly boost productivity by alleviating financing constraints and promoting green technological innovation, although the direct impact on technological advancement remains relatively limited. In China's western regions and industries such as manufacturing, electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply, wholesale and retail, and information transmission, software, and information technology services, the positive effects of ESG on GTFP are particularly evident. Based on these findings, it is recommended that governments and financial institutions collaborate to promote green credit policies and increase support for the research and development of green technologies. Additionally, environmental education and resource use optimization should be strengthened, especially in industries such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries, and the exchange of ESG technologies and experiences between industries should be encouraged.

Analysis of green total factor productivity in China's forestry industry: Technological, organizational, and environmental framework for sustainable economic development

AbstractAs a green industry, forestry plays a pivotal role in economic and ecological development. Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) is a crucial indicator of forestry progress. This paper employs the Non‐Radial Distance Function (NDDF) model to measure forestry GTFP in forestry comprehensively. Additionally, it utilizes fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore pathways for enhancing forestry GTFP across technological, organizational, and environmental (TOE) dimensions. The study reveals the following outcomes: Government financial support and six additional antecedent conditions offer three distinct avenues to boost forestry GTFP in forestry. Regional disparities emerge, with technology‐driven pathways predominantly found in eastern provinces, dual‐driven routes centered on average forest land size and forestry carbon sinks (FCS) taking precedence in central provinces, and dual‐driven paths driven by government support and FCS coming to the forefront in western provinces. Under specific circumstances, government financial support and foreign investment exhibit potential interchangeability, facilitating the attainment of elevated forestry GTFP in forestry. However, a constraint arises from operating entities' low average forest land size. Ultimately, this study equips policymakers with a nuanced understanding of the factors shaping forestry GTFP in forestry, enabling them to craft compelling, regionally tailored policies that foster adaptability and contribute to the sustainable development of the forestry sector, recognizing that a one‐size‐fits‐all approach may not be suitable for all regions.

The role of commercial agriculture in meeting sustainable development goals in South Africa: Evidence from municipal-level total factor productivity analysis

Improving agricultural productivity is critical, both locally and globally, particularly in the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of eradicating poverty (SDG 1), increasing food production for food security (SDG 2), and promoting efficient use of agricultural resources and sustainable farming practices (SDG 12). This study examines and compares total factor productivity efficiency (TFPE) in the South African commercial agricultural sector, along with its drivers, using local municipal-level data. We used the Färe-Primont index to assess municipalities' TFPE levels, considering both traditional (economic) factors (labour, land, and operating expenses) and environmental variables (temperature, rainfall, and soil moisture index). Our TFPE index results are not only lower, but they show more variation across municipalities than the economic TFPE index, which is commonly used in agricultural productivity research. This implies that ignoring environmental variables may bias analysis; therefore, future studies should consider including environmental factors in their analyses. We then used hierarchical clustering to group municipalities with similar TFPE levels and components, followed by fractional regression to identify the drivers of efficiency levels. The cluster analysis results reveal that the best-performing municipalities are in cluster 4, comprising municipalities from the Western Cape Winelands specialising in horticulture production, municipalities near urban areas with better market proximity, those engaged in the global value chain, and those with a high proportion of farmers who own most of their farmland. Furthermore, the fractional regression results show that age, gender, race, market proximity, land use types, and production diversification are significant drivers of TFPE and its components. Our study offers insights into the divergent agricultural TFPE performance among municipalities and the underlying factors causing these disparities. The findings can inform the development of targeted strategies, particularly at the local level, aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity and making significant contributions to achieving the SDGs.

A configurational analysis of innovation environment and industrial green total factor productivity

This paper examines the necessary and sufficient influence of the innovation environment, which incorporates various innovation variables, on IGTFP from a configurational standpoint. This paper utilizes fuzzy qualitative comparative analysis and necessary condition analysis methodologies. A total of 11 models are found to be driven by the innovation environment for IGTFP. Technological output is necessary for IGTFP and thus a fundamental factor in various models. The effects of wages and human capital on IGTFP are also relatively significant. Longitudinally, there is no consistent innovation environment-driven model. This paper reveals the intricate associations between the innovation ecosystem and IGTFP while elucidating the mechanism of variable effects on IGTFP influenced by varying spatio-temporal environments, which significantly amplifies current comprehension of the mean effect link between the two. Concurrently, the article furnishes methodological direction for subsequent investigation into the complexity of the relationships between relevant variables.

The Regional Total Factor Productivity Changes of Healthcare Delivery in China: A Bootstrap Malmquist Data Envelopment Analysis.

Improving the productivity of healthcare delivery and optimizing the allocation of regional healthcare resources are crucial for the health providers. The objective of this study is to evaluate the productivity dynamics of healthcare delivery at the regional (provincial) level in China, to provide evidence-based policy implications. After a review of literature, actual number of open beds, number of occupational or assistant doctors, number of registered nurses, and number of other staff were selected as input variables. The number of diagnostic visits and number of discharged inpatients were adopted as the output indicators. The panel data of 31 provinces in mainland China from 2010 to 2019 were extracted from Health Statistics Yearbook. Bootstrap-Malmquist Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model was used to measure the total factor productivity changes (TFPC) and its components. During the study period, the analysis of total factor productivity (TFP) in China revealed a declining trend with an average annual decline of 0.9% (ranging from 0.860 to 1.204). For each of the 31 provinces, the annual TFP scores varied from 0.971 to 1.029. On average, technical efficiency changes (TEC) had showed a downward trend from 2010-2011 (0.980) to 2013-2014 (0.982), and then an upward trend in 2014-2015 (1.029) and the following three consecutive years since 2016-2017 (1.000, 1.013, 1.009). Similarly, the trend in technological changes (TC) was consistent with the TEC from 2010-2019, which fluctuated between 0.969 and 1.011 on average per year at the provincial level. Notably, the point of inflection appeared at 2013-2014. Regional healthcare inputs and outputs in mainland China saw an upward trend from 2010 to 2019. However, TFPC, TEC, and TC decreased across all 31 provinces. TFP experienced a declining trend from 2010 to 2014, followed by growth until 2019. This may be related to the new healthcare reform being implemented since 2009, as service efficiency and capacity may undergo a reversal at the beginning of the reform.

Does information and communication technology improve labor productivity? Recent evidence from the Southeast Asian emerging economies

AbstractThe comprehension of the textbook and augmented Solow growth model has been studied to picture the consequences of workforce growth and capital. In the age of digitalization, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is also the first necessity identified factors affecting labor productivity. This paper revisits the augmented Solow growth equation by integrating ICT as an explanator that improves labor productivity in Southeast Asian emerging economies. We used a Two‐Way Random‐Effects Model to regress the impact of workforce growth rate, physical capital, and human capital on labor productivity. The results show that using human capital is essential to improve output in emerging market countries rather than only using physical capital. According to our adjusted ICT factors, our analysis reveals that using the Internet and mobile cellular significantly boosts labor productivity. Moreover, the analysis of total factor productivity shows that most Southeast Asian economies highly depend on implementing ICT, especially the contribution of Internet usage and mobile cellular. Therefore, this study contributes to further studies and policy recommendations in improving the introduction of Internet usage and installation, especially for the emerging Southeast Asian.

Analysis of Total Factor Productivity Among Rice Farmers in Southwestern Nigeria.

Analysis of Total Factor Productivity Among Rice Farmers in Southwestern Nigeria.

Analysis of Total Factor Productivity Among Rice Farmers in Southwestern Nigeria.

Analysis of Total Factor Productivity Among Rice Farmers in Southwestern Nigeria.

An Empirical Analysis of Capacity Utilization and Total Factor Productivity to Inference on Technical Efficiency Level of Tunisian Manufacturing Industry

An Empirical Analysis of Capacity Utilization and Total Factor Productivity to Inference on Technical Efficiency Level of Tunisian Manufacturing Industry

Total factor productivity of Russian companies: Assessments, trends, and dynamic factors

The article presents the results of the analysis of total factor productivity( TFP) of Russian companies across eight industries — agriculture, extraction, processing, energy, water supply, trade, transportation, and information and communication — during the period of 2012 to 2020. Over this timeframe, there was an observable trend of decreasing TFP among Russian companies cumulatively. Sector-specific analysis reveals an upward TFP trend in agriculture, extraction, and trade sectors, while in information and communication, the metric remained virtually unchanged. Almost across all sectors, except for information and communication, private companies exhibited lower TFP compared to stateowned enterprises (SOEs) with direct government ownership. Furthermore, in the extraction sector, SOEs demonstrated higher TFP than private organizations. However, the TFP of medium and small private companies proved to be higher across all sectors, excluding agriculture and extraction. Additionally, it was found that both private companies and SOEs with direct government ownership lagged behind the productivity of SOEs with indirect government ownership, except for the extraction sector, where these distinctions were negligible

Research on the impact of digital economy on industrial green total factor productivity—analysis based on Chinese provinces

Against the background of booming digital economy growth and the perspective of industrial green transformation, this article empirically evaluates the impact of digital economy on industrial green total factor productivity (GTFP) based on provincial-level panel data in China from 2010 to 2020. First, this article calculates the digital economy index (DEI) and industrial GTFP, analyzes the regional development characteristics of the two, and finds that the growth of digital economy and industrial GTFP is unbalanced, basically showing the east high and west low distribution. Then, empirically examines the impact of digital economy on industrial GTFP and finds that digital economy can significantly improve industrial GTFP, with obvious regional variability. Finally, the threshold model regression reveals that this promotion effect has a threshold effect, which gradually weakened as the DEI value crosses the corresponding threshold value.

Industry contributions to productivity growth in U.S. manufacturing: an application of alternative output concepts

To understand the performance of the U.S. manufacturing sector, in this article, we explore the performance of individual industries. We first use the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published data to look at the influence of industries on sector-level performance and total factor productivity (TFP) growth. The underlying dynamics of production in any given industry determine its influence on the sector as a whole. Both an industry’s share of output and its individual TFP growth vary over time, and these changes jointly determine the industry’s contribution to performance in the manufacturing sector. Next, we trace the contribution of industries to manufacturing sector TFP by using three alternative output concepts—value-added output, sectoral output, and gross output. We examine the differences in industry contributions that result from the use of the alternative output measures, over 2000–21 and three different business cycles (2000–07, 2007–19, and 2019–21). We show that one must carefully deliberate before selecting a value-added-output, sectoral-output, or gross-output framework for TFP and contribution analysis.

The econometric analysis of voluntary environmental regulations and total factor productivity in agribusiness under digitization.

Under the new development pattern, both "digital" and "low-carbon" development have entered the fast track, and digital transformation has become an important path to promote green development and enhance total factor productivity in agriculture. Based on the data of agricultural companies, this paper empirically verifies the impact of voluntary environmental regulations on total factor productivity. The empirical results show that voluntary environmental regulation has a significant positive impact on total factor productivity of agribusiness. In the mechanistic analysis, it is found that voluntary environmental regulations accelerate the digital transformation process of firms, which in turn increases their total factor productivity. In addition, the level of government environmental concern contributes to the increase of voluntary environmental regulations on firms' total factor productivity. The findings have practical implications for the sustainable development of agribusiness, providing empirical evidence for policy formulation and adjustment, and helping the agricultural economy to achieve high-quality development.

Does innovative city pilot policy promote urban green growth in China? An analysis of green total factor productivity, 2005–2020

The innovative city pilot policy (ICPP) is an essential manifestation of China’s construction of an innovative and green-driven development country. We incorporated urban green total factor productivity (GTFP) growth into the evaluation of ICPP. Based on the panel data of 223 cities in China from 2005 to 2020, we used the difference-in-differences model to empirically assess the influence and mechanism of the ICPP on urban GTFP growth. The main results show that (i) The ICPP has maintained an effectively fluctuating promotion on urban GTFP growth, mainly manifested in the urban green technological progress improvement. (ii) The ICPP has urban heterogeneity in promoting GTFP growth in pilot cities, mainly affecting key cities such as provincial capitals. (iii) The interaction between the agglomeration of producer services and the ICPP inhibits GTFP growth in pilot cities.

Spatial-temporal evolution and convergence analysis of agricultural green total factor productivity-evidence from the Yangtze River Delta Region of China.

Measuring regional differences in agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) provides a basis for policy guidance on agricultural green development in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. By constructing a two-period Malmquist-Luenberger index under the carbon emission constraint, we measure the AGTFP of cities in the YRD region from 2001 to 2019. Furthermore, adopting the Moran index method and the hot spot analysis method, this paper analyzes the global spatial correlation and local spatial correlation of AGTFP in this region. Moreover, we investigate its spatial convergence. The results show that the AGTFP of 41 cities in the YRD region is on an increasing trend; the growth of AGTFP in the eastern cities is mainly driven by green technical efficiency, while this growth in the southern cities is mainly stimulated by green technical efficiency and green technological progress. We also find a significant spatial correlation between cities' AGTFP in the YRD region from 2001 to 2019, but with certain fluctuations, showing a U-shaped trend of "strong-weak-strong". In addition, absolute β convergence of the AGTFP exists in the YRD region, and this convergence speed is accelerated with the addition of spatial factors. This evidence provides support for implementing the regional integration development strategy and optimizing the regional agricultural spatial layout. Our findings offer implications for promoting the transfer of green agricultural technology to the southwest of the YRD region, strengthening the construction of agricultural economic belts and agricultural economic circles, and improving the efficiency of agricultural resource use.

An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Digital Finance on the Efficiency of Commercial Banks

Based on the background of the digital transformation of commercial banks, the advantages and benefits of this study are to study the promotion effect of digital finance on the production efficiency of commercial banks from four aspects: technological innovation, financial innovation, deep integration of technology and finance, and industry advantages. This study verifies that digital finance has a positive impact on the total factor productivity of commercial banks. In order to study the impact of the development of digital finance on the efficiency of commercial banks, this paper puts forward two assumptions. Using the “text mining method” and taking the total factor productivity of commercial banks as the explanatory variable and the digital finance index as the core explanatory variable, this paper empirically studies the impact of digital finance on bank efficiency. Through empirical research, it is believed that through the analysis of total factor productivity, digital finance has strongly promoted the improvement of the total factor productivity of commercial banks through the technology spillover effect. The impact of digital finance on banks is therefore heterogeneous.

Analysis of Total Factor Productivity of Logistics in Yellow River Basin Based on DEA-Malmquist Model

The article uses the DEA Malmquist model to calculate the total factor productivity of logistics in 9 provinces of the Yellow River Basin from 2017 to 2021. It analyzes the changes in total factor productivity of logistics in the Yellow River Basin from a holistic and inter provincial perspective and decomposes it. Research has found that from 2017 to 2021, the total factor productivity index of each province in the Yellow River Basin was greater than 1, and logistics efficiency continued to improve. However, there is a problem of imbalanced and insufficient development. Some provinces should attach importance to technological improvement and allocate resources reasonably to improve comprehensive technological efficiency.

Dynamic Empirical analysis of urban total factor productivity in Hubei Province: Based on DEA-Malmquist index method

High-quality development stage pays more attention to the improvement of supply-side efficiency. TFP can effectively reflect the efficiency of resource allocation and is related to the sustainable and healthy development of economy. Based on the DEA-Malmquist index method, the data of 12 representative cities in Hubei Province from 2010 to 2019 are selected for dynamic empirical analysis of TFP. It is finded that the overall increase trend of TFP in Hubei Province during the selected period is not obvious, mainly due to the impact of technological regression. Technical efficiency has been improved, but it is not enough to make up for the "drag effect" of technological regression. Further analysis of the decomposition terms of technical efficiency shows that the improvement of scale efficiency is greater than that of pure technical efficiency. From the urban distribution characteristics of TFP improvement, the decline of TFP in most cities is the cause of the decline of TFP, and the vast majority of cities show different degrees of technological regression. The results of the empirical analysis attempt to provide policy enlightenment for the recovery of economy and regional coordinated high-quality development after the epidemic in Hubei Province .

A Comparative Analysis of Technical Efficiency, Technological Change and Total Factor Productivity in Selected ASEAN+3 Countries

A Comparative Analysis of Technical Efficiency, Technological Change and Total Factor Productivity in Selected ASEAN+3 Countries

A comparative analysis of technical efficiency, technological change and total factor productivity in selected ASEAN+3 countries

A comparative analysis of technical efficiency, technological change and total factor productivity in selected ASEAN+3 countries