This paper analyzes the Swedish labor market during the interwar and early postwar period within the framework of modern labor market theory. The development of unemployment during this period - according to the commonly cited source of labor union reports - represents a conundrum for research. The unemployment rate rose after the initial diverse shock of 1921 and stayed at a permanently higher level for the rest of the interwar period. This development was reversed after World War Two when the unemployment rate decreased and stayed permanently low for the rest of the postwar period until the oil price chock of the 1970s. In a first step the available sources of unemployment statistics is investigated and compared. The general conclusion is that the labor union reports overestimate the level of economy wide unemployment while being a reasonably good indicator of movements in the rate. While no assertion of absolute levels can be made the conclusion might be drawn that the equilibrium level of unemployment decreased from a higher interwar level down to a substantially lower postwar one. The paper then turns to the overarching question of the possible mainsprings of this development. The concept of the warranted wage - defined as total factor productivity growth divided by the labor share - have been used to explained the development of unemployment in the OECD from the 1970s. The theory pertains that movements in the bargained wage above or below the warranted wage will render movements in the equilibrium unemployment rate. This theoretical framework is used to analyze the Swedish inter- and early postwar experience. The warranted wage in the manufacturing sector and the whole economy is respectively estimated using historical national accounts and growth accounting. The development is then compared to the progress of real labor costs. The conclusion is that the 1920s experienced a negative growth in the warranted wage - and while real labor cost decreased during the period - wages were not cut enough in order to keep profits unchanged for firms. The opposite can be concluded for the succeeding 1930s and 1940s which instead saw a positive evolution of the warranted wage with real labor costs not growing at the same rate. The movements of real labor costs in relation to the warranted wage thus makes this factor a plausible candidate for explaining movements in the unemployment rate during the period understudy.

No description available.

This paper investigates the impact of knowledge capital stocks on total factor productivity through the lens of the knowledge capital model proposed by Griliches (1979), augmented with a spatially discounted cross-region knowledge spillover pool variable. The objective is to shift attention from firms and industries to regions and to estimate the impact of cross-region knowledge spillovers on total factor productivity (TFP) in Europe. The dependent variable is the region-level TFP, measured in terms of the superlative TFP index suggested by Caves, Christensen and Diewert (1982). This index describes how efficiently each region transforms physical capital and labour into output. The explanatory variables are internal and out-of-region stocks of knowledge, the latter capturing the contribution of cross-region knowledge spillovers. We construct patent stocks to proxy regional knowledge capital stocks for N=203 regions over the 1997- 2002 time period. In estimating the effects we implement a spatial panel data model that controls for the spatial autocorrelation due to neighbouring regions and the individual heterogeneity across regions. The findings provide a fairly remarkable confirmation of the role of knowledge capital contributing to productivity differences among regions, and add an important spatial dimension to the discussion, by showing that productivity effects of knowledge spillovers increase with geographic proximity. (authors' abstract)

This thesis explored the measurement of performance of New Zealand tertiary education institutions (TEIs) and the demand for their services. This involved analysing the research performance of New Zealand universities, analysing the productive efficiency of New Zealand TEIs and examining the choice of provider by bachelor’s degree starters. Bibliometric data was used to measure the research productivity of New Zealand universities. This showed that following a fall during the early 2000s, the research productivity of New Zealand universities increased following the introduction of the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF). A multi-dimensional analysis of university research performance between 2000 and 2005 showed that no individual university was top in all four of the performance measures assessed. The overall performance of three universities, Massey University, Lincoln University and Auckland University of Technology, were noticeably below that of the other five universities. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was then applied to input and output data of New Zealand TEIs to analyse their productive efficiency. In 2006, polytechnics that had: low levels of bachelor’s degree provision, were not regionally based, had a high proportion of subcontracting and were larger institutions, achieved higher levels of pure technical efficiency. The analysis showed that several polytechnics could improve their technical efficiency by reducing their scale of operations. In polytechnics, higher technical efficiency was associated with better financial performance. A number of technically efficient polytechnics struggled financially, indicating that the overall efficiency of the polytechnic sector was not high, or the funding model they operate under is not appropriate. The analysis also showed that decreasing bachelor’s degree provision, poor financial performance in the previous year, an increase in provision of community education, was associated with higher growth in total factor productivity between 1996 and 2006. The application of DEA to Australasian university data between 1997 and 2005 showed that New Zealand universities performed relatively well in terms of relative pure technical efficiency, compared with their Australian counterparts. However, the total factor productivity of New Zealand universities increased at a lower rate, on average, than that of the Australian Group of Eight and newer Australian universities. The application of DEA to a dataset of the participating TEIs in the PBRF showed that polytechnics had lower technical efficiency, on average, than other TEIs. The choices of bachelor’s degree starters in 2006 were analysed for evidence of a lack of parity of esteem between university and polytechnic degrees. The results showed that a lack of parity of esteem between polytechnic and university degrees may be influencing student choices. Students from higher deciles schools, with higher secondary school qualifications, Asians, students who travel for study, were all more likely to enrol in a university to start a bachelor’s degree. There was less clear cut evidence of a lack of parity of esteem between selected groupings of New Zealand universities. However, there did appear to be a lack of parity of esteem between the four older metropolitan universities and the two newest universities, with signs the former were held in higher esteem.

Este trabalho pretende contribuir para a ampliação do debate em torno da trajetória dos ganhos de produtividade no Brasil, examinando o desempenho da produtividade total dos fatores (PTF) agregada no período 1987/2002, nas unidades da federação, através da estimação de intervalos de confiança para o índice de Malmquist e suas componentes variação de eficiência e taxa de progresso tecnológico. Para tanto, aplica-se a metodologia de bootstrap, conforme Simar e Wilson (1999a) aos índices obtidos pela técnica DEAMalmquist, de modo que se os intervalos de confiança – com probabilidade de 90% e 95% - contenham a unidade, o índice em questão não é significativamente diferente de 1 e, portanto, não é possível concluir que existam mudanças na PTF, na eficiência ou na tecnologia. Com a aplicação do bootstrap, a conclusão mais evidente é que se deve ter cautela na análise e comparação entre unidades produtivas através do mero exame dos índices de Malmquist calculados. Em alguns casos, a técnica corrobora os resultados encontrados através do índice, mas em outros se conclui que não se pode afirmar que as variações sejam, de fato, estatisticamente significantes. / This tesis estimates the confidence intervals for output oriented Malmquist indices of productivity and their decompositions – changes in efficiency and changes in technology – in the period 1987/2002 taking into consideration Brazilian States. For this study, a bootstrap algorithm described in Simar and Wilson (1999a) was used, this procedure is a consistent estimation for obtaining confidence intervals for Malmquist indices. So the purpose is to contribute for further debates on total factor productivity performance in Brazil, providing results for both 90% and 95% confidence intervals. They allow assessment of the null hypothesis of no total factor productivity change which indicates that the corresponding measures are not statistically different from unity. The interpretation is straightforward. In the confidence interval case, if it contains the unity, then the corresponding measure is not significantly different from one at the significance level, i.e., it is not possible to conclude that changes occurred in productivity. In contrast, when the interval excludes the unity, one can conclude with confidence that the corresponding measure is significantly different from unity. With the application of bootstrap methodology, it is possible to conclude the necessity of being cautious while analyzing and comparing productive units through the mere exam of the calculated Malmquist indices. In some cases the technique corroborates the results found through the indices, whereas in others it may be concluded that it is not possible to state that variations are, in fact, statistically significant.

Submitted by Vinicius Sampaio (vsampacor@gmail.com) on 2017-06-19T21:22:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Do Macro ao Micro - o Papel da Produtividade no Desenvolvimento Econômico.pdf: 746825 bytes, checksum: a5403241a146f98ff63f532bd9db2918 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by GILSON ROCHA MIRANDA (gilson.miranda@fgv.br) on 2017-06-21T14:41:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Do Macro ao Micro - o Papel da Produtividade no Desenvolvimento Econômico.pdf: 746825 bytes, checksum: a5403241a146f98ff63f532bd9db2918 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-04T20:03:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Do Macro ao Micro - o Papel da Produtividade no Desenvolvimento Econômico.pdf: 746825 bytes, checksum: a5403241a146f98ff63f532bd9db2918 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-31 / This work emphasizes the evolution in the understanding of productivity as a fundamental factor for economic development. Based on a diagnosis that places productivity as a preponderant factor in determining the dispersion of income across countries, different approaches are presented in order to better understand the most elementary and fundamental mechanisms that determine it, focusing on the recent literature of misallocation. In order to achieve this aim, some of the main aspects identified as potential sources of poor resource allocation and the respective mechanisms through which they act are presented, together with some key empirical results. In addition, based on this theoretical framework, this text proposes a brief reflection about the way these mechanisms affect brazilian productivity and presents some reforms - already concluded or still under analisys - that aim to address some of the distortions observed in this economy. / Este trabalho enfatiza a evolução das formas de entendimento da produtividade enquanto fator fundamental para o desenvolvimento econômico. Partindo de um diagnóstico que coloca a produtividade como fator preponderante na determinação da dispersão de renda verificada entre países, apresentam-se as diferentes abordagens desenvolvidas no intuito de melhor compreender os mecanismos mais elementares e fundamentais que a determinam, com foco na literatura recente de misallocation. Para atingir tal objetivo são apresentados alguns dos principais aspectos apontados como potencias geradores de má alocação de recursos e os respectivos mecanismos por meio do qual atuam, além de alguns importantes resultados empíricos obtidos. Além disso, de posse desse arcabouço teórico, é feita uma breve reflexão sobre a forma como alguns desses mecanismos afetam a produtividade brasileira, bem como são apresentadas algumas reformas - já conduzidas ou ainda em estudo - que visam endereçar algumas das distorções verificadas nessa economia.

Este trabalho pretende contribuir para a ampliação do debate em torno da trajetória dos ganhos de produtividade no Brasil, examinando o desempenho da produtividade total dos fatores (PTF) agregada no período 1987/2002, nas unidades da federação, através da estimação de intervalos de confiança para o índice de Malmquist e suas componentes variação de eficiência e taxa de progresso tecnológico. Para tanto, aplica-se a metodologia de bootstrap, conforme Simar e Wilson (1999a) aos índices obtidos pela técnica DEAMalmquist, de modo que se os intervalos de confiança – com probabilidade de 90% e 95% - contenham a unidade, o índice em questão não é significativamente diferente de 1 e, portanto, não é possível concluir que existam mudanças na PTF, na eficiência ou na tecnologia. Com a aplicação do bootstrap, a conclusão mais evidente é que se deve ter cautela na análise e comparação entre unidades produtivas através do mero exame dos índices de Malmquist calculados. Em alguns casos, a técnica corrobora os resultados encontrados através do índice, mas em outros se conclui que não se pode afirmar que as variações sejam, de fato, estatisticamente significantes. / This tesis estimates the confidence intervals for output oriented Malmquist indices of productivity and their decompositions – changes in efficiency and changes in technology – in the period 1987/2002 taking into consideration Brazilian States. For this study, a bootstrap algorithm described in Simar and Wilson (1999a) was used, this procedure is a consistent estimation for obtaining confidence intervals for Malmquist indices. So the purpose is to contribute for further debates on total factor productivity performance in Brazil, providing results for both 90% and 95% confidence intervals. They allow assessment of the null hypothesis of no total factor productivity change which indicates that the corresponding measures are not statistically different from unity. The interpretation is straightforward. In the confidence interval case, if it contains the unity, then the corresponding measure is not significantly different from one at the significance level, i.e., it is not possible to conclude that changes occurred in productivity. In contrast, when the interval excludes the unity, one can conclude with confidence that the corresponding measure is significantly different from unity. With the application of bootstrap methodology, it is possible to conclude the necessity of being cautious while analyzing and comparing productive units through the mere exam of the calculated Malmquist indices. In some cases the technique corroborates the results found through the indices, whereas in others it may be concluded that it is not possible to state that variations are, in fact, statistically significant.

In this article, we propose an estimation of the agriculture productivity using micro data forPeru. The method used builds on recent production function’s estimation techniques developed for panel data (e.g., Gandhi et al., 2013) but using cross-section data. Data constraints urge us to impose functional forms for the estimation. In particular, we choose the constant elasticity of substitution function, which is more flexible that other functions used by prior literature in Peru (such as the Cobb-Douglas). We find no evidence of the existence of increasing returns to scale in the Peruvian agriculture, and that the productivity is positively correlated with age, sex, andeducation, and negatively correlated with the farming unit’s acreage and market power. / En este artículo, proponemos la estimación de la productividad agrícola usando datos micro-económicos para el Perú. El método consiste en la estimación de una función de producción agraria, que permite recuperar la productividad como un residuo, y constituye una aplicación directa de desarrollos metodológicos recientes en la estimación de funciones de producción con datos de panel (e.g., Gandhi et al., 2013), pero aplicado en este artículo a datos de sección cru- zada. Debido a la menor información disponible para la estimación con respecto al caso de datos de panel, recurrimos a supuestos de formas funcionales. En particular, se escoge la función de elasticidad de sustitución constante, que permite una mayor flexibilidad que otras formas usadas previamente en la literatura empírica nacional, como la Cobb-Douglas. Encontramos que no hay sustento para la hipótesis de la existencia de retornos crecientes a escala; que la productividad está positivamente correlacionada con la edad, el sexo, y la educación; y negativamente relacionadacon el tamaño de la unidad agropecuaria y el poder de mercado.

O setor agropecuário brasileiro experimentou nas últimas décadas elevados ganhos de produtividade, fato esse que tem sido amplamente debatido na literatura econômica sobre o tema. O crescimento da produtividade agropecuária permitiu um amplo processo de liberação de mão de obra para as atividades urbanas e, especialmente, para o setor de serviços, possibilitando a ocorrência de mudança estrutural com redução da importância do setor primário na economia brasileira. A presente dissertação tem, dessa forma, dois objetivos, constituindo-se o primeiro a implementação de um modelo dinâmico de equilíbrio geral ajustado para refletir o padrão de mudança estrutural observado no Brasil entre 1981 e 2013. A análise insere-se na visão de que o crescimento da produtividade do setor primário é condição necessária para a mudança estrutural das economias ao longo de seu desenvolvimento, diferenciando-se, portanto, da abordagem que atribui o processo de mudança estrutural à presença de diferentes elasticidade-renda no consumo dos bens produzidos por cada setor. O segundo objetivo é utilizar o modelo calibrado para examinar um cenário hipotético em que a produtividade agropecuária comportar-se-ia como o observado para a economia brasileira, avaliando suas implicações sobre as participações de três setores (agropecuária, indústria e serviços) no valor adicionado total a preços correntes e no emprego. Especificamente, o modelo utilizado foi inspirado em Verma (2012) que constitui, por sua vez, uma adaptação empírica do modelo teórico proposto por Ngai e Pissarides (2007), e tem como mecanismo para a ocorrência de mudança estrutural o crescimento diferenciado da produtividade total dos fatores (PTF) em cada setor da economia. O modelo base foi calibrado a partir de dados observados e revisão bibliográfica, e solucionado numericamente incorporando as séries de crescimento das PTFs dos três setores, obtidas por decomposição do crescimento à la Solow (1957), e reproduziu de maneira adequada o nível e, principalmente, tendência das participações no valor adicionado. A partir dos resultados obtidos, a simulação realizada sugeriu que em um cenário de baixo crescimento da produtividade agropecuária, a mão de obra do setor não teria sido liberada na magnitude em que efetivamente ocorreu, implicando a manutenção da participação deste setor no emprego e no valor adicionado, às custas do setor de serviços que haveria, então, passado por uma desaceleração do crescimento de suas participações nestas duas medidas de mudança estrutural. / In the last decades, Brazilian agriculture has experienced high productivity gains, as discussed by many studies in the economic literature. The agricultural productivity growth has allowed for a wide transfer of labor from agriculture to urban activities, especially to services sector, enabling the structural change process by reducing the primary sector share in Brazilian economy. This thesis has two objectives; the first one is the implementation of a dynamic general equilibrium model which capture the Brazilian structural change patterns between 1981 and 2013. The second objective is to simulate an alternative scenario in which agricultural productivity would have grown at the same rate as Brazilian economy\'s productivity has grown. More specifically, the model adopted was based on Verma (2012), which is an empirical adaptation of the theoretical model developed by Ngai and Pissarides (2007), which assumes that differences in sectoral total factor productivity (TFP) growth are the main mechanism for structural change occurrence. The baseline model was numerically solved after calibration with real data and literature review, and obtainment of sectoral TFP growth series by growth accounting à la Solow (1957), and it reproduces robustly the level and trend of the three sectors\' value added shares in the economy. The alternative scenario\'s simulation suggests that in the presence of low agricultural productivity growth, the labor would not be released from agriculture at the same magnitude, what would imply in a lower growth of service sector\'s shares in the stylized measures of structural change.

Este trabalho estimou a produtividade total dos fatores (PTF) para a indústria de transformação brasileira no período de 2003 a 2012, utilizando-se de uma função translog e um modelo de fronteira estocástica. Os dados em painel originam-se da Pesquisa Industrial Anual do IBGE. O objetivo principal foi analisar a variação da PTF, decomposta em progresso técnico, eficiência técnica, efeito escala, eficiência alocativa e choques aleatórios. As conclusões revelam crescimento negativo da PTF para o conjunto das atividades industriais ao longo do período e para as atividades de alta, média alta e média baixa intensidades tecnológicas. Somente as atividades de baixa intensidade tecnológica apresentaram variação positiva na PTF. O progresso técnico foi o componente que mais contribuiu para a queda na PTF. / This study estimated the total factor productivity (TFP) for Brazilian manufacturing industry from 2003 to 2012, using a translog function and stochastic frontier model. The panel data originate from the Pesquisa Industrial Anual of IBGE. The main objective was to analyze the variation of TFP, decomposed into technical progress, technical efficiency, scale effect, allocative efficiency and random shocks. Results reveal negative TFP growth for the group of industrial activities over the period and to the high activity, upper middle and lower middle technological intensity. Only low technology activities had positive change in TFP. Technical progress was the component that contributed most to the fall in TFP.