Boosting Productivity viaInnovation and Adoption of New Technologies : Any Role forLabor Market Institutions?

Scarpetta, Stefano ; Tressel, Thierry

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: ACCOUNTING;    BASE YEAR;    BUSINESS CYCLES;    CAPITAL STOCK;    CAPITAL-LABOR;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3273
RP-ID  :  WPS3273

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The authors present empirical evidenceon the determinants of industry-level multifactorproductivity growth. They focus on "traditionalfactors," including the process of technological catchup, human capital, and research and development (R&D),as well as institutional factors affecting labor adjustmentcosts. Their analysis is based on harmonized data for 17manufacturing industries in 18 industrial economies over thepast two decades. The disaggregated analysis reveals thatthe process of technological convergence takes place mainlyin low-tech industries, while in high-tech industries,country leaders tend to pull ahead of the others. The linkbetween R&D activity and productivity also depends ontechnological characteristics of the industries: while thereis no evidence of R&D boosting productivity in low-techindustries, the effect is strong in high-tech industries,but the technology leaders tend to enjoy higher returns onR&D expenditure compared with followers. There is alsoevidence in the data that high labor adjustment costs(proxied by the strictness of employment protectionlegislation) can have a strong negative impact onproductivity. In particular, when institutional settings donot allow wages or internal training to offset high hiringand firing costs, the latter reduce incentives forinnovation and adoption of new technologies, and lead tolower productivity performance. Albeit drawn from theexperience of industrial countries, this result may haverelevant implications for many developing economiescharacterized by low relative wage flexibility and highlabor adjustment costs.