This dissertation is in three distinct chapters, although not entirely independent. The various chapters present empirical evidence in economic growth and development using data at the country, firm, and household-community levels. Over the years, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have given rise to copious theoretical and empirical research. This thesis moves in line with these studies. Specifically, contributing to the subject of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all (SDG 7), provision of full and productive employment and sustained economic growth (SDG 8), availability of financial services and markets (SDG 9), and building sustained development and inclusive institutions (SDG 16). The thesis uses data from various sources at different levels--country, firm, and household--to test important growth and development issues that are considered gray areas that require extensive research. The first chapter is dedicated to investigating the relationship between economic institutions and growth. While the importance of institutions in fostering economic growth and development has not been disputed, there is now a developing literature on the nonlinearity between growth and institutions. This paper examines the existence of nonlinearities between economic institutions and growth and, particularly, the presence of threshold effects for a sample of advanced and developing countries. Using political institutions to instrument economic institutions in a dynamic panel threshold model, the results reveal the existence of institutional-threshold effects in a first difference generalized method of moments (FD-GMM) approach. Specifically, for economic institutions to affect growth, they must on average develop to at least 6 and 8 (out of a score of 10) for developing and advanced economies, respectively. Both the short-run and long-run effects of economic institutions on growth are positive and only significant for developing countries. The results show the primacy of sub-indices of economic institutions such as freedom to trade internationally, legal structures, and property rights for economic growth. Next, I narrow things down to the firm level. The second chapter of this thesis is devoted to searching for transmission channels from finance to firms' productivity and growth in the developing countries context. There is a consensus among economists that financial development fosters economic growth. Among other things, the productivity effect of access to finance by firms is considered one of the important channels through which finance affects growth. This paper empirically investigates the relevance of this channel using firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey for several developing countries from 2002 to 2020. The results indicate that access to finance is generally limited, although larger firms have better access to finance irrespective of their age. Holding all other factors constant, improved access to finance significantly increases the productivity of young and small-sized firms while reducing their growth in employment. Also, compared to matured and medium-sized but financially constrained firms, the results show that enhanced access to finance significantly boosts the employment growth of old (but small) firms. Lastly, the results show different sources of financing (external, formal, and informal) have varied effects on firms’ growth and productivity. From the results, a long-term growth policy package recommended should therefore include special financing schemes that improve access to finance for young and small firms. In the third chapter, I study the labor supply and welfare benefits of electrification. The share of a country’s population with access to electricity is a good indicator of its growth and development since it has important labor and welfare implications. This paper estimates the causal effect of access to electricity on development outcomes such as employment, wages, and hours of work, as well as the reallocation of labor across the agriculture and non-agricultural sectors in Ghana. First, I demonstrate that topography matters in grid expansion, especially in rural Ghana, using the three most recent waves of the Ghana Living Standard Survey (rounds 5, 6, and 7). I do this by using the slope of the land as an instrumental variable IV. Second, the IV estimates show no significant improvement in general employment and wages, whilst inducing shifts in employment from agriculture to the non-agriculture sectors because of electricity. Also, hours of work increase, especially for those in the non-agriculture sector. An important mechanism through which electrification affects labor and welfare outcomes in Ghana is the increase in underground economic activities.

La crisi finanziaria esplosa nel 2008 è degenerata in un’aspra e duratura ondata recessiva, che ha colpito l’economia reale a livello internazionale. La presente tesi si propone di contribuire alla letteratura econometrica sull’ultima crisi focalizzandosi su due temi ampiamente dibattuti: vincoli finanziari e produttività totale dei fattori. Il manifatturiero italiano si presenta come scenario preferenziale per condurre l’analisi, tenuto conto della struttura produttiva frammentata e della dipendenza delle imprese dal debito bancario. Si cercherà dapprima di analizzare l’impatto dei vincoli finanziari sulle dinamiche manifatturiere durante la crisi, per poi passare a trattare i temi della rigidità finanziaria e degli effetti di contagio che si sono verificati tra le imprese attraverso il canale del credito commerciale, quali determinanti della probabilità di insolvenza. Infine, il tema delle agglomerazioni tra imprese, di tipo geografico e settoriale, sarà analizzato quale fattore cruciale per la formazione di spillover di produttività, insieme alla capacità innovativa del territorio. I risultati confermano il carattere di pervasività dell’ultima recessione, che alterando le dinamiche manifatturiere ha contribuito ad esacerbare gli episodi di insolvenza. Il possedere una base produttiva clusterizzata ed eterogenea può tuttavia rappresentare ancora un punto di forza, persino all’interno di un contesto operativo plasmato dalla crisi. / The financial crisis that erupted in 2008 translated into harsh recessionary effects at an international level, that were passed on to the real economy. A solid recovery is still lagging behind. The dissertation contributes to the econometric literature on the great recession by focusing attention on two debated topics: financing constraints and total factor productivity (TFP). The fragmented and strongly bank-dependent Italian production base is a preferred environment to conduct the analysis. The role played by financing constraints as amplifiers of manufacturing dynamics is firstly investigated. As a second step, financial rigidity of firms and contagion effects that occurred via trade credit interconnections are considered, and jointly modelled as core determinants of distress likelihoods by resorting to spatial econometric techniques. In the last section, geographical and sectoral clustering phenomena are spatially analyzed in order to investigate knowledge spillovers at the micro level. Results highlight the pervasive nature of the last crisis. The harshness of the recessionary effects fostered a change in manufacturing equilibria and caused the proliferation of distress episodes. Nevertheless, a clustered production base still represents a driver for the formation of positive externalities.

各國視生技產業為未來發展的關鍵產業，並積極推動各項政策，使生技產業能快速成長，而生技醫藥市場是促成全球生技產業成長的主要動力，為了增加我國的競爭力，希望藉由與鄰近國家醫藥產業的比較，能更了解台灣生技醫藥產業經營績效。 本研究採用Battese and Coelli (1995)隨機成本邊界法，針對2002-2007年間，日本、南韓、中國、印度與台灣等五個國家，共61家生技醫藥廠商進行實證分析，研究結果如下：(1)研發密集度增加使成本效率降低，五個國家裡，日本最具成本效率。(2)產業平均成本效率值為0.855，且有逐年惡化的趨勢。(3)整體產業平均處於遞增規模報酬階段。(4)整體而言，總要素生產力(TFP)的提升主要是因為規模成分的貢獻，其次為技術的進步，而技術效率變動率對TFP成長率為負影響。(5)各國間雖然TFP變動率不存在顯著性差異，但在規模成分、技術變動率與技術效率變動率等方面存在著顯著的差異。 / Many countries regard biotechnology as a key industry for the future development. Governments often implement a variety of policies to help it grow rapidly. The biotech pharmaceutical industry is the main momentum for the growth of the global biotech industry. The objective of this paper is to measure the productivity and efficiency of the industry among Asian countries, and investigates the sources of the performance changes, and then hope to give some insight into the enhancement of the industry’s productivity. To pursue our goal, we adopt Battese and Coelli’s (1995) stochastic frontier approach to assess 61 biotech pharmaceutical firms during 2002-2007. The main empirical results can be summarized as follows: (1) The R&D intensity is negatively related to cost efficiency; in five countries, Japan has the highest cost efficiency. (2) On average, the cost efficiency is about 0.86, and has become worsen year after year. (3)Most of time, the industry is characterized with the increasing returns to scale. (4) The growth of total factor productivity (TFP) is mainly attributed to the scale efficiency change, and technical progress accounts for a minor source. However, technical efficiency deteriorates over time. (5) Among countries, the TFP growth rates have no significant differences, but the components show apparent differences.

Les trois essais dans cette thèse étudient les implications des frictions financières, telles que les contraintes de collatérale ou de crédit, pour les décisions économiques des agents et leur impact sur les variables macro-économiques agrégées. Dans le premier chapitre "Financial Contracts and the Political Economy of Investor Protection" nous proposons une théorie du niveau de protection des investisseurs. Une faible protection des investisseurs implique un coût de financement externe plus élevé à cause des problèmes d'agence plus aigus entre les investisseurs et les entrepreneurs. À l'équilibre, ceci exclut les agents plus dépendants sur le financement externe de l'entrepreneuriat, ce qui augmente les profits des entrepreneurs qui restent actifs. Quand le niveau de la protection des investisseurs est choisi par un vote majoritaire, la théorie génère (i) une protection des investisseurs plus faible dans les économies avec plus grande inégalité dans les besoins de financement externe parmi les entrepreneurs, (ii) une dynamique non-monotone de l'output, (iii) améliorations (détériorations) de la protection des investisseurs suite à des ralentissements (accélérations) de l'output agrégé. L'évidence empirique donne un support à ces prédictions de la théorie. Dans le deuxième chapitre "Financial Frictions, Internal Capital Markets, and the Organization of Production", nous examinons comment la présence des frictions financières peut mener à la formation des conglomérats et des "business groups" diversifiées. Particulièrement, nous construisons un modèle d'équilibre général d'entrepreneuriat dans lequel les conglomérats émergent de façon endogène et substituent partiellement le marché du crédit imparfait. Nous montrons que ce modèle est capable d'expliquer quantitativement plusieurs faits stylisés concernant l'organisation de la production, les différences de productivité entre les firmes et les différences en présence des conglomérats entre les pays. Le troisième chapitre "Size and Productivity of Single-segment and Diversified Firms: Evidence from Canadian Manufacturing" étudie empiriquement la relation entre la taille, la productivité, et la structure organisationnelle d'une firme. Utilisant les micro-données sur les établissements manufacturiers canadiens, nous documentons plusieurs faits stylisés concernant la taille et la productivité totale des facteurs des établissements dans les conglomérats et dans les firmes non-diversifiées. Nous trouvons que les établissements dans les conglomérats sont en moyenne plus larges que leurs contreparties dans les firmes non-diversifiées, les petits établissements dans les conglomérats sont moins productifs que les établissements de taille similaire dans les firmes non-diversifiées, mais les larges établissements dans les conglomérats sont plus productifs que ceux de taille similaire dans les firmes non-diversifiées. Cette évidence est consistante avec réallocation interne efficiente des ressources au sein des conglomérats. / The three essays in this thesis study the implications of financial frictions, such as collateral and credit constraints, for economic decisions of agents and their impact on aggregate macroeconomic variables. In the first chapter "Financial Contracts and the Political Economy of Investor Protection", we propose a theory of the level of investor protection. Lower investor protection implies higher cost of external financing due to more severe agency problems between outside investors and entrepreneurs. In equilibrium, this excludes more financially dependent agents from entrepreneurship, increasing the profits of the remaining entrepreneurs. When the level of investor protection is chosen by majority voting, the theory generates (i) lower investor protection in economies with higher inequality in financial dependence across entrepreneurs, (ii) non-monotone output dynamics, (iii) improvements (worsening) of investor protection following output slowdowns (accelerations). The empirical evidence provides some support to these predictions. In the second chapter "Financial Frictions, Internal Capital Markets, and the Organization of Production", we investigate how the presence of financial frictions may lead to formation of diversified conglomerates or business groups. Specifically, we build a general equilibrium model of entrepreneurship in which business groups arise endogenously and partially substitute for imperfect credit market. We show that the model is able to quantitatively explain several key stylized facts on the way production is organized, on cross-firm productivity differences, and on cross-country differences in the degree of conglomeration. The third chapter "Size and Productivity of Single-segment and Diversified Firms: Evidence from Canadian Manufacturing" studies empirically the relation between size, productivity, and the organizational structure of a firm. Using micro-data on Canadian manufacturing plants, we document several stylized facts about size and total factor productivity of establishments in conglomerates and single-segment firms. We find that establishments in conglomerates are on average larger than their counterparts in single-segment firms, small plants in conglomerates are less productive than plants of similar size in single-segment firms, but large plants in conglomerates are more productive than those of similar size in single-segment firms. This evidence is consistent with efficient internal reallocation of resources in conglomerates.

A l’issue de la transition économique et dans le contexte de rattrapage au sein de l’Union Européenne, cette thèse étudie le transfert de technologie associé aux investissements directs étrangers (IDE) en Europe Centrale et Orientale. Les externalités technologiques sont considérées comme la contribution principale des IDE au développement économique des pays d’accueil. La première partie de ce travail analyse le mécanisme microéconomique du transfert de technologie. Après avoir évalué le potentiel de transfert à travers l’excédent de productivité et l’intensité des échanges intersectoriels, nous analysons l’effet des externalités sur la productivité des entreprises locales. Nous construisons ainsi plusieurs mesures d’externalités horizontales et verticales, en accordant une toute attention particulière à la position des entreprises dans la filière. Enfin, nous nous intéressons au rôle de la capacité d'absorption locale et du décalage technologique dans la capture de ces externalités. Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse nous menons une analyse macroéconomique centrée autour de deux directions : la relation entre les IDE et l’investissement local, ainsi que l’impact agrégé des IDE sur la croissance. Tout d’abord, nous partons de l’hypothèse de destruction créatrice entre les IDE et l’investissement local, puis nous analysons cette problématique dans la perspective des différents types d’IDE. Nous séparons également le mécanisme d’interaction entre les filiales et les entreprises locales selon le marché réel et le marché financier. Ensuite, nous évaluons la contribution des externalités agrégées au progrès technique, ce qui nous permet d’illustrer l’impact global des IDE sur la croissance économique. Enfin, nous considérons la relation IDE-croissance dans une double perspective, afin de montrer l’existence d’un cercle vertueux. / At the end of the economic transition and in the context of catching up within the European Union, this thesis studies the technology transfer associated with foreign direct investment (FDI) in Central and Eastern Europe. Technological externalities are considered the main contribution of FDI to the economic development of host countries. The first part of this work analyzes the microeconomic mechanism of technology transfer. After having evaluated the potential for spillovers through the productivity gap and the intensity of intersectoral linkages, we identify the impact of technological spillovers on the productivity of domestic firms. We construct several measures of horizontal and vertical externalities, while giving particular attention to local firm’s status throughout the supply chain. Finally, we tested the role of local absorptive capacity and technological gap in the capture of spillovers. In the second part we conduct a macroeconomic analysis oriented on two directions: the relationship between FDI and local investment and the aggregate impact of FDI on growth. We start from the assumption of destructive creation between FDI and local investment and analyze this issue from the perspective of different types of FDI. We also separate the interaction mechanism between the affiliates and the domestic firms according to the real market and the financial market. We then evaluate the contribution of aggregate externalities to technical progress, which allows us to illustrate the overall impact of FDI on economic growth. Finally, we consider the FDI-growth relationship from a double perspective, in order to show the existence of a virtuous circle

Following Toyota's dramatic rise to prominence within the automotive industry in the late 1980's, firms around the globe have widely sought to adopt Lean Six Sigma (LSS) as a means of reducing costs, improving quality, and gaining an overall competitive advantage. While the operational benefits of LSS are largely undisputed, there are criticisms of the movement with regards to its effect on firm innovation capability. Prior academic studies investigating the relationship between LSS and innovation are largely conceptual in nature, rely heavily on qualitative data, and display a high degree of variability in results. The objective of this work was to empirically confirm whether LSS adoption had a positive, negative, or neutral impact on firm innovation performance.Financial data was collected for 151 publicly traded firms over the period from 1985 to 2018. The year of company-wide adoption of LSS was identified for each sample firm. Firms were paired with industry rivals using Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM), and statistical regressions were performed to show correlations between LSS implementation (as measured by inventory turns) and innovation performance (as measured by Total Factor Productivity, Research Quotient, and Tobin's Quotient). Regression results indicated that LSS implementation had a positive correlation with firm process innovation performance and the overall market perception of firm innovation and value, and a negative-to-neutral correlation with firm product innovation performance. Additional regressions performed at the industry-sector level revealed that the LSS-innovation relationship varies greatly by industry environment and is subject to unique industry effects and management implementation decisions.

Problemformulering Det vi med denna uppsats vill undersöka är hur en tjänsteorganisations produktivitet kan mätas. Därför lyder vår problemformulering enligt följande: Hur kan produktivitet mätas i en tjänsteorganisation? Produktiviteten i en tjänsteorganisation påverkas av ett antal faktorer, till exempel personalen, kommunikation, ledarskap och de IT-system personalen arbetar i. Med ”mäta” syftar vi till att kvantifiera de kvalitativa faktorer som påverkar produktiviteten.   Syfte Utöver att se hur produktiviteten kan mätas i en tjänsteorganisation ska vi utveckla en modell som visar hur tjänsteproduktiviteten kan mätas samt identifiera vilka faktorer som påverkar och hur de påverkar produktiviteten. Vi kommer genom ett illustrativt exempel att identifiera de faktorer som påverkar produktiviteten i den tjänsteorganisationen och hur de påverkar. Den organisation vi valt att applicera vår studie på är Folksam, avgränsat till deras bokföringsavdelning.   Metod Vår kunskapssyn är hermeneutisk, vilket går i linje med vårt syfte då vi vill identifiera och tolka de faktorer som är viktiga för tjänsteproduktiviteten. Vi har valt att göra en kvalitativ studie, då identifieringen av faktorer som påverkar tjänsteproduktiviteten är ett relativt oexploaterat område och därför behöver vi undersöka det empiriskt i en etablerad organisation. Den iterativa metoden eller den gyllene medelvägen är det angreppsätt som vi valt, eftersom vi anser att det passar vår studie bäst att utgå ifrån befintlig teori och sedan enbart influeras av den för att låta empirin vara det som styr vår teoriutveckling. För att erhålla våra data har vi genomfört både observationssamtal och semistrukturerade intervjuer.   Teori Vi har i huvudsak använt oss av två modeller som tillsammans ger en bild över produktiviteten i en tjänsteorganisation. Fokus ligger på Grönroos och Ojasalos (2004) tjänsteproduktivitetsmodell. Den beskriver de input och output av intern och extern effektivitet som har en påverkan på tjänsteproduktiviteten. Den säger dock lite om hur tjänsteproduktiviteten kan mätas. Vi har därför valt att komplettera denna modell med en modell gjord av Sahay (2005) som kallas Multi-factor Productivity Measurement Model. Den modellen tar upp hur tjänsteproduktvitet kan mätas genom att utveckla olika index som är anpassade till den aktuella organisationen. Utöver dessa två modeller har vi sökt och använt teorier kring de faktorer som påverkar tjänsteproduktiviteten i vår organisation.   Slutsatser När produktiviteten ska mätas i en tjänsteorganisation är det viktigt att först kartlägga vilka faktorer som påverkar produktiviteten och att sedan anpassa dem efter den aktuella organisationen. Faktorer vi funnit i denna studie är bland annat ledarskap, grupper, kommunikation, IT-system och stress. Resultatet visar att de faktorer som påverkar tjänsteproduktiviteten samverkar och tillsammans ger en bild över hur tjänsteproduktiviteten ser ut och kan mätas.

Les trois essais dans cette thèse étudient les implications des frictions financières, telles que les contraintes de collatérale ou de crédit, pour les décisions économiques des agents et leur impact sur les variables macro-économiques agrégées. Dans le premier chapitre "Financial Contracts and the Political Economy of Investor Protection" nous proposons une théorie du niveau de protection des investisseurs. Une faible protection des investisseurs implique un coût de financement externe plus élevé à cause des problèmes d'agence plus aigus entre les investisseurs et les entrepreneurs. À l'équilibre, ceci exclut les agents plus dépendants sur le financement externe de l'entrepreneuriat, ce qui augmente les profits des entrepreneurs qui restent actifs. Quand le niveau de la protection des investisseurs est choisi par un vote majoritaire, la théorie génère (i) une protection des investisseurs plus faible dans les économies avec plus grande inégalité dans les besoins de financement externe parmi les entrepreneurs, (ii) une dynamique non-monotone de l'output, (iii) améliorations (détériorations) de la protection des investisseurs suite à des ralentissements (accélérations) de l'output agrégé. L'évidence empirique donne un support à ces prédictions de la théorie. Dans le deuxième chapitre "Financial Frictions, Internal Capital Markets, and the Organization of Production", nous examinons comment la présence des frictions financières peut mener à la formation des conglomérats et des "business groups" diversifiées. Particulièrement, nous construisons un modèle d'équilibre général d'entrepreneuriat dans lequel les conglomérats émergent de façon endogène et substituent partiellement le marché du crédit imparfait. Nous montrons que ce modèle est capable d'expliquer quantitativement plusieurs faits stylisés concernant l'organisation de la production, les différences de productivité entre les firmes et les différences en présence des conglomérats entre les pays. Le troisième chapitre "Size and Productivity of Single-segment and Diversified Firms: Evidence from Canadian Manufacturing" étudie empiriquement la relation entre la taille, la productivité, et la structure organisationnelle d'une firme. Utilisant les micro-données sur les établissements manufacturiers canadiens, nous documentons plusieurs faits stylisés concernant la taille et la productivité totale des facteurs des établissements dans les conglomérats et dans les firmes non-diversifiées. Nous trouvons que les établissements dans les conglomérats sont en moyenne plus larges que leurs contreparties dans les firmes non-diversifiées, les petits établissements dans les conglomérats sont moins productifs que les établissements de taille similaire dans les firmes non-diversifiées, mais les larges établissements dans les conglomérats sont plus productifs que ceux de taille similaire dans les firmes non-diversifiées. Cette évidence est consistante avec réallocation interne efficiente des ressources au sein des conglomérats. / The three essays in this thesis study the implications of financial frictions, such as collateral and credit constraints, for economic decisions of agents and their impact on aggregate macroeconomic variables. In the first chapter "Financial Contracts and the Political Economy of Investor Protection", we propose a theory of the level of investor protection. Lower investor protection implies higher cost of external financing due to more severe agency problems between outside investors and entrepreneurs. In equilibrium, this excludes more financially dependent agents from entrepreneurship, increasing the profits of the remaining entrepreneurs. When the level of investor protection is chosen by majority voting, the theory generates (i) lower investor protection in economies with higher inequality in financial dependence across entrepreneurs, (ii) non-monotone output dynamics, (iii) improvements (worsening) of investor protection following output slowdowns (accelerations). The empirical evidence provides some support to these predictions. In the second chapter "Financial Frictions, Internal Capital Markets, and the Organization of Production", we investigate how the presence of financial frictions may lead to formation of diversified conglomerates or business groups. Specifically, we build a general equilibrium model of entrepreneurship in which business groups arise endogenously and partially substitute for imperfect credit market. We show that the model is able to quantitatively explain several key stylized facts on the way production is organized, on cross-firm productivity differences, and on cross-country differences in the degree of conglomeration. The third chapter "Size and Productivity of Single-segment and Diversified Firms: Evidence from Canadian Manufacturing" studies empirically the relation between size, productivity, and the organizational structure of a firm. Using micro-data on Canadian manufacturing plants, we document several stylized facts about size and total factor productivity of establishments in conglomerates and single-segment firms. We find that establishments in conglomerates are on average larger than their counterparts in single-segment firms, small plants in conglomerates are less productive than plants of similar size in single-segment firms, but large plants in conglomerates are more productive than those of similar size in single-segment firms. This evidence is consistent with efficient internal reallocation of resources in conglomerates.

Questa tesi analizza le determinanti e gli effetti dell'innovazione attraverso un'analisi empirica. Nel primo capitolo viene analizzato l'impatto delle leggi di proprietà intellettuale sull'innovazione domestica in campo farmaceutico. Nel secondo capitolo, in cui vengono usati dati a livello di impresa, si studia la correlazione tra innovazione, export, produttività e vincoli finanziari. Infine nell'ultimo capitolo si studia l'effetto dell'innovazione domestica nell'attrarre investimenti diretti esteri. Mentre nel primo e nell'ultimo capitolo l'innovazione viene misurata come output, usando il numero di brevetti attribuiti ad un determinato paese, nel secondo capitolo vengono usati dati di R&D, e quindi di input di innovazione. / This dissertation analyses the determinants and the effects of innovation using an empirical analysis. In the first chapter the impact of Intellectual Property Rights on domestic innovation in the pharmaceutical sector is estimated. In the second chapter the correlation between innovation, export, productivity and financial constraint is studied at the firm level. Finally, in the last chapter the role of domestic innovation in attracting Foreign Direct Investments is estimated. While in the first and in the last chapter innovation output is considered, and innovation is proxied by patent data, in the second chapter innovation input is taken into account, and R&D data are used.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:58:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 4 JOSE_ANTONIO_DE_SOUZA_DISSERTACAO_VERSAO_FINAL.pdf.jpg: 17403 bytes, checksum: e10358d7e12871cef2b0316788b3e376 (MD5) JOSE_ANTONIO_DE_SOUZA_DISSERTACAO_VERSAO_FINAL.pdf.txt: 192545 bytes, checksum: bd219ee8e4077c7534538b47349df885 (MD5) license.txt: 4810 bytes, checksum: 5a0053361f1e90aa2d2231437718e9df (MD5) JOSE_ANTONIO_DE_SOUZA_DISSERTACAO_VERSAO_FINAL.pdf: 761735 bytes, checksum: 652c91e503be04b555cfabf4dcbabf1e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-11-26T00:00:00Z / The basic hypothesis and core of this dissertation is that various methods of estimating production functions produce different results when applied to sectors of different technological intensity. This dissertation focused on determining the total factor productivity in several industries. Four sectors with high technological intensity and four sectors of low technology intensity were selected for assess this hypothesis. Production functions were estimated and its residue used to calculate the productivity. The correlation between residuals and the explanatory variables inherent to this procedure, including that of simultaneity, omitted variables and selection, was taken into account. One goal of this study was to identify whether a particular method would be more suitable to estimate production functions for industries with low/high technological intensity. This work studied several methods to estimate production functions, including: Olley & Pakes, and Levinsohn & Petrin. Our results show that, for industries with low and with high technological intensity, the Olley & Pakes method estimates are marginally better than the ones from Levinsohn & Petrin. In our opinion, such results do not provide enough advantage to put away the Levinsohn & Petrin method as a method to estimate production functions. The sensitivity of results to the different methods suggests that all of them should be consulted. In addition to the previously stated results, this work identified that the sectors studied experienced a productivity decline or stagnation from 1996 to 2005. / Este trabalho investigou o problema da determinação da produtividade total dos fatores em diversos setores industriais. Tal determinação se dá por meio de estimação de funções de produção, obtendo-se a produtividade a partir do resíduo destas estimações. A questão que aflora deste procedimento é a existência de correlação entre os resíduos e as variáveis explicativas, implicando em diversos vieses, entre eles o de simultaneidade, de variáveis omitidas e de seleção. Neste trabalho foram abordados diversos métodos de estimação de funções de produção, entre eles os métodos de Olley e Pakes e Levinsohn e Petrin. Todos os métodos foram aplicados a diversos setores da economia. A escolha dos setores se deu com base na intensidade tecnológica de cada um, sendo então escolhidos quatro setores de alta intensidade tecnológica e quatro de baixa intensidade tecnológica. A hipótese básica, fio condutor deste trabalho, é que os diversos métodos de estimação de funções de produção apresentam diferentes resultados quando aplicados a setores de diferentes intensidades tecnológicas. Um dos objetivos deste estudo foi identificar se determinado método seria mais adequado a setores de baixa intensidade tecnológica, enquanto outro seria mais apropriado a setores de alta intensidade tecnológica. Conclui-se que o método de Olley e Pakes é levemente superior ao de Levinsohn e Petrin em ambos os grupos de setores, mas não a ponto de se descartar o segundo método. A sensibilidade dos resultados aos diferentes métodos sugere que todos devem ser consultados. Um resultado adicional deste trabalho é a constatação de que houve queda ou estagnação da produtividade nos setores selecionados para a década de 1996 a 2005.