Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Productivity (Industrial Economics)'

Since 1978, China has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Notable features of its economic performance have been its industrial growth and the expansion of its manufactured exports. The focus of this research is China's industrial performance during the years 1980 and 1992. Its principal objective is to analyze Industrial growth from the twin perspectives of resource mobilisation and productivity change. It is argued that these two aspects, both of which reflect the impact of Dengist reforms, are interrelated.;Our analysis of resource mobilisation suggests that a number of factors have contributed to China's rapid industrial growth. Two of these have been of particular importance. First, increased emphasis on the role of the market, in terms of facilitating more rapid growth of household demand and strengthening intersectoral linkages, enabled the Industrial sector to improve its access to widening domestic and foreign markets. Second, the transformation of funding arrangements for industry had two beneficial results: it permitted non-state agents to play a greater role in financing industrial expansion; and it enabled the traditional state funding system to enhance its role as a means of improving intersectoral balance.;The analysis of productivity change in post-reform industry is deliberately set in the context of the changes in market structures which have faced China's industrial enterprises. Our findings indicate that enterprise reforms and structural adjustments have been a source of improvement in levels of industrial productivity in China. But they also suggest that such improvements have been neither consistent, nor balanced over time and between different branches of Industry.;In an attempt to identify the forces which have given rise to the distinctive patterns of resource mobilisation and productivity change in China's industrial sector under the Impact of reform, we have deliberately focused on the interactions between government, enterprises and the market. It is noteworthy that the increased role played by regional and local governments has facilitated the more intensive use of local productive resources. But it is also clear that the same factor has been the source of regional market fragmentation. Both of these elements have impacted on China's industrial performance since the early 1980s.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2005.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-91). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

This thesis explores the causal relationships between tax incentives, research and development (R&D) and productivity. Using R&D survey data from the United Kingdom (UK) Office for National Statistics and administrative data on corporation tax returns from HM Revenue and Customs, I first conduct empirical analyses of tax incentive policies for R&D, and then estimate the elasticity of output with respect to firms' own R&D efforts as well as external R&D performed by neighboring firms in technology and product space. In the first two chapters which focus on tax incentive policies and their evaluation, I am able to identify the policy effect of interest by exploiting two significant reforms in the UK in 2002 and 2008. I find that tax incentives had a positive and significant stimulating effect on businesses' R&D spending. I argue that the availability of a quasi-experimental set up helps in better identifying the policy impact. The production function estimation exercise in the third chapter shows that double counting of R&D human resources and materials in the production function causes the elasticity of output with respect to the firms' own R&D to be substantially underestimated. I also find that the R&D done in multi-unit enterprise groups is productive for the production facilities which themselves do not perform R&D. The Jaffe (1986) and Bloom et al. (2013) measures of external R&D, which account for closeness of firms in technology and product space can be constructed and included in the production function in the spirit of Griliches (1979). I find that the point estimate for the elasticity of output with respect to firms' own R&D is around 3 percent and statistically significant. Evidence is mixed regarding the productivity effects of R&D carried out by competitors in the product market or neighboring firms in technology space. The detailed data sets used in this study offer valuable resources for empirical work on R&D and productivity.

This dissertation explores the effects of factors such as industrial policy and listing on the stock market on manufacturing firms’ profitability and productivity. The second chapter investigates the effect of industrial policies on misallocation using a rich data-set of Chinese firms. Using a difference-in-difference approach, I provide evidence that government policies (i.e. the 10th Five Year Plan) favoring particular industries lead to increased misallocation (i.e., an increase in the dispersion of revenue productivity across firms in four-digit industries). Moreover, the differential changes between industries supported and not supported by the 10th Five Year Plan are quantitatively large and indicative of a substantial negative impact on aggregate TFP. Using a changes-in-changes model, I find evidence that the Five Year Plan had a positive and significant effect for most of the TFPR distribution while the effect was negative for the lowest quintile of TFPQ and positive for the highest TFPQ quintile. The results suggest increased misallocation is related to the way in which the Chinese government doled out support through the increase of subsidies and the improvement of credit conditions for a subset of firms. In the third chapter, I study the heterogeneous effects of an industrial policy -the 10th Five Year Plan on misallocation, profitability and real technology in Chinese provinces with different mix of supported intensities. I find that the 10th Five Year Plan increased misallocation, profitability and technology of supported industries in provinces with higher supporting intensities. After controlling the effects of China’s state-owned enterprise (SOE) reforms and joining into World Trade Organization (WTO), the results are still robust and consistent. In the fourth chapter, I investigate the effects of listing on the stock market on firm’s profitability and technology. Using Chinese firm level data, I identify listing firms, and compute revenue productivity and physical productivity to measure profitability and technology, respectively. To deal with the endogenous problem of listing, I use the number of investment banks as instrument variable. With a difference-in-difference model, I find that listing increases firm’s profitability and technology. Empirical findings also reveal that listing changes characteristics of firms, such as asset, liability and capital structure.

The first essay of this dissertation focuses on studying the relationship between private politics and corporate environmentalism. This work analyzes the determinants and effects of two private political actions, boycotts and proxy contests. The analysis shows that: (i) the size of a firm is an important predictor of whether a firm will be chosen as a target of an activist campaign; (ii) firms headquartered in states with larger environmental constituencies are more likely to be targeted by activist campaigns; (iii) "dirty firms" (with larger relative or absolute emissions and/or high level of regulatory scrutiny) are more likely to become targets of an activist campaign; and (iv) private political campaigns are effective in improving the environmental performance of their targets. The second essay examines the trends in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and investigates the effects of major changes in the economy on measures of TFP in eight industries during the Interwar period from 1919 through 1939. TFP estimates show that each industry followed a different path of TFP change. There is no consistent evidence on large TFP decline during the years 1929-33 in the industries studied, as proposed in the literature. TFP measures also do not support the hypothesis that the 1930s were a period of interrupted TFP growth but there is evidence that five industries out of eight had higher productivity in the 1930s than in the 1920s. Regression analysis of major determinants of the TFP change for the motor vehicles and the cotton goods industry shows that TFP fell with increases in employment and strike activity. The NRA code might have also contributed to a decline in TFP.

This thesis consists of three independent but thematically related papers exploring the income determination process in African labour markets from spatial and sectoral perspectives. Using long-run household panel data from rural Tanzania, chapter 2 investigates the extent to which education can explain migrants' income and consumption gains. We expect that the higher return to schooling at the destination primarily drives migrants' gains, suggesting that those who cannot afford the cost of schooling cannot reap the benefits of migration. We find that education indeed plays the role, but that it does not appear to be a major factor in limiting the internal migration as a source of raising income and consumption. Exploiting data drawn from urban household panel surveys in Ghana and Tanzania, chapter 3 investigates how rural-to-urban migrants' earnings compare with those of natives in urban labour markets. The chapter attempts to identify the growth of migrants' earnings at the destination (assimilation), making a distinction between wage and self-employed migrants. We find that wage-dependent migrants would achieve higher lifetime earnings if they entered a self-employed sector from their arrival, conditional on individuals' attributes and the varying returns to those attributes across urban residents. The evidence points towards the importance of capital constraints in a decision to start a business. Using firm-level data of manufacturing and retailing from the Enterprise Surveys conducted in seven Sub-Saharan African countries, chapter 4 attempts to improve our understanding of enterprise performance in urban Africa by investigating three aspects of firms' productive structure: technology, total factor productivity (TFP), and firm size. We find that the technology is similar between sectors, that retailing firms are smaller and less capital intensive but not, on average, ones with lower TFP, and that TFP differences are primarily within sectors. All these findings might point towards the importance of factor prices in characterising the industrial structure in urban Africa.

The aim of the thesis is to further explore the relationship between economic integration and firm mobility and investment, both from an empirical and a theoretical perspective, with the objective of drawing conclusions on how government policy can be used to strengthen the positive impact of integration on investment, which is crucial in moving and maintaining countries at the forefront of the technology frontier and accelerating economic growth in a world of rapid technical change and high mobility of ideas, goods, services, capital and labor.

The first chapter aims to bring together the literature on economic integration, firm mobility and investment. It contains two sections: one dedicated to the literature on FDI and the second covering the literature on firm entry and exit, economic performance and economic and business regulation.

In the second chapter I examine the relationship between the Single Market and FDI both in an intra-EU context and from outside the EU. The empirical results show that the impact of the Single Market on FDI differs substantially from one country to another. This finding may be due to the functioning of institutions.

The third chapter studies the relationship between the level of external trade protection put into place by a Regional Integration Agreement(RIA)and the option of a firm from outside the RIA block to serve the RIA market through FDI rather than exports. I find that the level of external trade protection put in place by the RIA depends on the RIA country's capacity to benefit from FDI spillovers, the magnitude of set-up costs of building a plant in the RIA and on the amount of external trade protection erected by the country from outside the reigonal block with respect to the RIA.

The fourth chapter studies how the firm entry and exit process is affected by product market reforms and regulations and impact macroeconomic performance. The results show that an increase in deregulation will lead to a rise in firm entry and exit. This in turn will especially affect macroeconomic performance as measured by output growth and labor productivity growth. The analysis done at the sector level shows that results can differ substantially across industries, which implies that deregulation policies should be conducted at the sector level, rather than at the global macroeconomic level.
Doctorat en sciences économiques, Orientation économie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This dissertation consists of four related, sole-authored chapters. It considers the microeconomic mechanisms for gains from trade in the presence of quality investments by firms. It shows within the framework of a quality-augmented heterogeneous firms model that the quality dimension matters for welfare gains from trade. It also provides novel empirical evidence on adjustment mechanisms of aggregate quality as a consequence of globalization. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first contribution to provide a comprehensive analysis of the role of endogenous product quality in the determination of gains from trade. I first offer an explanation for observed industry heterogeneity in trade-induced productivity gains and show that results depend on whether or not firms have the option to invest in quality. I then take a broader view of welfare gains from trade, looking beyond productivity improvements. I find that globalization can imply a quality-variety trade-off when consumer quality preference is strong - a finding which holds under firm heterogeneity and symmetry. Nevertheless, overall gains from trade are positive. With quality being itself an important channel for gains from trade, I also investigate the detailed mechanisms by which aggregate quality changes as a consequence of globalization. This is done within the same theoretical heterogeneous firms framework as well as empirically using firm-level export data matched with firm-level quality ratings. I argue that firm heterogeneity matters for gains from trade by giving rise to an additional welfare channel in the presence of variable elasticity of demand preferences: high quality firms expand sales disproportionately in a larger market, thereby raising aggregate quality. This theoretical prediction is confirmed by the data. Furthermore, I study the mechanisms for gains from trade in a symmetric firms version of the baseline model. This allows me to isolate the role of firm heterogeneity in driving earlier results. In addition, I analyse the efficiency properties of the market equilibrium for the symmetric firms case.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed June 19, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-127).

Unemployment and/or slow economic growth nationally and in poorer regions are two problems which political decision-makers often refer to when they argue for the need to grant different producer subsidies to firms. Moreover, it is often asserted that the problems are due to different market failures. However, it is not certain that market failures exist and political attempts to correct "market-failures" might easily turn into government failures. In the thesis various industrial and regional policy subsidies are examined. The subsidies, which are studied, have become increasingly important in many countries, not least in the EU, over time.The thesis consists of four essays, which examine different aspects of interventionistic policy and political decision making from the perspective of market failure vs. government failure. The purpose of Essay 1 is to study whether Swedish regional policy, which was introduced around 1970, has significantly affected the process of growth of per capita income in Swedish counties. In Essay 2 characteristics of recipient firms are analysed from an interest-group perspective. In Essay 3, the subsidies effect on total factor productivity growth is studied. In the final essay employment effects are examined.
Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk.

This thesis analyses what effects foreign direct investments (FDI) has on a firm’s gross profit, wages and labour productivity. Focus is on the Swedish industrial goods and service sector which has shown on a rapid growth of offshore production. We use a theoretical framework with FDI and productivity theories. As a result of cost efficient alternatives to domestic production, a firm’s productivity should fall in the case of increased foreign production. Although, the increase in gross profit should rule out the negative affect that a decrease in productivity cause.

There is a positive relationship between offshore production and gross profits, and expanded foreign production leads to a decreased wage rate. However, increased foreign employment showed a boost the labour productivity, which is wrong from a theoretical point of view.

I den här uppsatsen analyseras hur utländska direktinvesteringar påverkar företags vinster, löner och arbetsproduktivitet. Fokus är ställt på svenska företag inom sektorn industriella varor och tjänster. Den teoretiska delen tar upp utländska direktinvesteringar och arbetsproduktivitet. Som ett resultat av kostnadseffektiva alternativ utomlands, borde arbetsproduktiviteten falla om den utländska produktionen ökar. Den väntade vinstökningen efter utlandslokalisering borde dock ge en generell positiv effekt.

Den empiriska delen visar ett positivt samband mellan utlandslokalisering och vinst. Bevis finnes också för att medellönen sjunker när utlandslokaliseringen ökar. Empiriska resultat visar också att ökad utlandslokalisering ökar arbetsproduktiviteten, vilket ur teoretisk ståndpunkt inte stämmer.

The first chapter - Crisis? Which Crisis? - constructs a new series of industrial value added at constant (1938) prices for Italy, for the period between 1928 and 1938. The data employed are shown to be better indicators of the dynamic of the Great Depression than those used by Carreras and Felice (2010) and allow to substantially revise the profile of the Crisis. The contraction appears to be more pronounced and persistent, placing the Italian experience more in line with that of other industrialised countries. The second chapter - The Italian Climacteric - presents new estimates of total factor productivity growth for Italy over the Fascist era and compares them with analogous ones for the pre-World War One period and for Germany and Britain. Because of the absence of a fully reliable GDP series, a dual growth accounting framework is employed. This approach permits the incorporation of new data on land rents and of new evidence on the returns to human capital. Results show that during the interwar era Italy experienced a “climacteric", defined as a cessation of TFP growth, which compares poorly with the coeval performance of Britain and Germany. This disappointing result contrasts vividly with what occurred in the late liberal Italy, when TFP grew less quickly than in Germany, but faster than in Britain. The third chapter - A Tale of Two Fascisms - offers the first quantitative assessment of labour productivity dynamics within the Italian industrial sector and of their links with Fascist competition policy. We argue that the institutional context in which Italian firms operated and, in particular, changes in the level of product market competition had a significant effect in determining their productivity performance. By relying on a new dataset and on new labour productivity estimates, we show that the earlier more liberal period of the Fascist era was characterised by a true productivity boom, which ended following the switch to a more interventionist industrial policy. Panel data evidence shows that reductions in the level of competition in the industrial sector were associated with lower productivity growth, while changes in industrial structure were a less significant factor.

This thesis presents three papers within the field of dynamic macroeconomics. The first paper, entitled “Medium-frequency cycles and the remarkable near trend-stationarity of output”, presents a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with endogenous growth, capable of reconciling the observed large medium-frequency fluctuations in output, with its long run (near) trend-stationarity. This requires a model in which standard business cycle shocks lead to highly persistent movements around trend, without significantly altering the trend itself. The robustness of the trend also requires that scale effects are eliminated both in the long and short runs. In an estimated version of the model, a financial-type shock to the stock of ideas emerges as the key driver of the medium frequency cycle. The second paper, entitled “Learning from learners”, is an intervention into two long running debates: the first, on whether learnability may be used to rule out explosive paths for inflation in New Keynesian models, and the second, into whether Taylor rule parameters may be identified from observing the data. We find that in an economy populated with traditional macroeconomic learners, Taylor rule parameters can always be identified by sophisticated econometric techniques. Furthermore, when all agents in the economy use such sophisticated techniques, stationary sunspot solutions are readily learnable, and there is no guarantee of convergence to a stationary solution even in the “determinate” case. This implies that learnability cannot be used for equilibrium selection. Finally, in the third paper, “Efficient simulation of DSGE models with inequality constraints” (joint with Michael Paetz), we present a new algorithm for the simulation of models subject to inequality constraints, such as the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates. Our algorithm is shown to deliver higher accuracy than all other non-global algorithms, and leading speed. We go on to provide a number of applications of our algorithm.

This thesis examines the Chinese economy by focusing on three issues: convergence, total factor productivity (TFP) and industrial growth. The study of convergence was undertaken using a panel of China’s 28 provinces over the period 1979-2004. The share of physical capital in China’s output was found to be 0.23 and the provinces were found to converge at a rate of 5.6 per cent per annum. To calculate the growth of TFP for China’s 29 provinces in this period, the non-parametric Malmquist index approach was employed in the analysis. It was found that, for China as a whole, TFP grew at a rate of 2.75 per cent per annum, which accounted for 30.02 per cent of its real GDP growth. The aim of the study of industrial growth was to examine the correlates of growth of 26 industries in 9 provinces of the Eastern Zone of China over the period 2001 to 2005. The analysis identified the dynamic externalities and province-specific externalities that were important to province-industrial growth. It also discovered an evident trend in the period under study of conditional convergence within the 26 industries in the Eastern Zone.

During the years 2004-2014, the manufacturing sector within the EU countries witnessed an increase in the utilization of industrial robots, where robot density per worker approximately doubled. Considering that this is a rather recent event, studies investigating how much industrial robots impact labour productivity are still rare. At the same time, one of EU’s outspoken goals is that of working to foster productivity and economic convergence between the member states. Given the above premises, we have investigated the relation between the adoption rate of industrial robotics within the EU and its effect on labour productivity. Secondly, we have made a predictive convergence model, in terms of labour productivity. We have collected data from several sources, including the Industrial Federation of Robotics and EU KLMS, in order to build a dataset for our quantitative analysis. We have then used statistical methods such as multiple regressions and 3 stage least square analysis (3sls) to estimate our system of interdependent equations model. The results show that implementation of industrial robotics in the manufacturing sector is a driver of labour productivity. The model finally predicts upward labour productivity divergence between the member states in the years 2015-2025, assuming that the determining factors of labour productivity grow at the same pace in our forecast period as in our data sample.
Under åren 2004-2014 fördubblades i genomsnitt antalet industrirobotar per arbetare i tillverkningsindustrin inom EU. Eftersom detta fenomen är relativt nytt, är studier som undersöker industrirobotars påverkan på arbetarproduktivitet fortfarande sällsynta. Samtidigt är ett av EU:s uttalade mål att arbeta för att främja konvergens mellan medlemsländerna inom produktivitet och andra ekonomiska mått. Med ovanstående förutsättningar har vi undersökt förhållandet mellan ökad användning av industriell robotik inom EU och dess effekt på arbetskraftsproduktiviteten. För att bygga en model för vår kvantitativa analys har vi samlat in data från flera källor, inklusive Industrial Federation of Robotics och EU KLMS. Vi har sedan använt statistiska metoder såsom multipel regression och 3-stegs minsta kvadratanalys (3sls) för att estimera vårt system av ekvationer. Resultaten visar att ökad användning av industriell robotik i tillverkningssektorn driver ökad arbetskraftsproduktivitet. Därefter analyserar vi även den aktuella konvergensriktningen för arbetarproduktivitet, och vår modell förutspår uppåtgående arbetsproduktivitetsdivergens, under förutsättning att de ingående faktorerna för arbetskraftsproduktivitet växer i samma takt under vår prognosperiod som under dataunderlagsperioden.
Durante gli anni che vanno dal 2004 al 2014 il settore manifatturiero degli stati appartenenti all’Unione europea è stato testimone di un aumento dell’utilizzo dei robot industriali: la densità di robot utilizzati per ciascun lavoratore è raddoppiata. Considerato che questo è un fenomeno abbastanza recente, gli studi che investigano quanto i robot industriali influiscono sulla produttività lavorativa sono ancora rari. Allo stesso tempo, uno degli obiettivi dichiarati dall’Unione europea è quello di stimolare la convergenza economica tra gli stati membri. Date queste premesse, abbiamo studiato la relazione tra il tasso di adozione dei robot industrali nell’Unione europea e il suo effetto sulla produttività del lavoro. Inoltre, abbiamo sviluppato un modello di previsione della convergenza in termini di produttività lavorativa. Abbiamo raccolto i dati da diverse fonti, tra cui la federazione industriale della robotica ed EU KLEMS, in modo da costruire un dataset per la nostra analisi quantitativa. In seguito abbiamo usato dei metodi statistici come la regressione multipla e la l’analisi dei minimi quadrati a tre stadi (3sls) per testare il nostro sistema di equazioni indipendenti. I risultati mostrano che l’implementazione dei robot industriali nel settore manifatturiero è un elemento motore della produttività lavorativa. Infine, il modello prevede una divergenza della produttività tra i Paesi membri negli anni 2015-2025, assumendo che i fattori determinanti della produttività crescano allo stesso modo nel periodo della previsione rispetto al periodo del nostro campione.

Overreliance on energy from fossil fuels is unsustainable because of their regional depletion and associated environmental impacts. The British industrial sector accounts for around one fifth of final energy demand and one third of carbon emissions nationally. This thesis attempts to quantify the potential for industrial energy efficiency from the current baseline, by adopting thermodynamic and economic perspectives. The methodology involves a top-down analysis of energy trends within the manufacturing sector to determine the baseline against which changes are measured, leading to bottom-up case studies which explicitly consider the detailed mechanisms affecting energy demand. Top-down analysis highlights the diversity between industrial sectors, for which a sectoral classification based on process homogeneity is proposed. It also enables the long term, systemic potential for efficiency improvements to be estimated and identifies the barriers to uptake. Bottom-up case studies are better suited to identifying the sectoral potential in the short to medium term. Firstly, the technical potential for heat recovery from industrial sectors is quantified by recourse to thermodynamic quality and spatial considerations. Secondly, an energy and exergy analysis of a glass furnace enables a distinction between avoidable and unavoidable losses, leading to the identification of economic savings. Thirdly, a process integration study at a pulp and paper mill based on a pinch analysis and optimisation of a heat exchanger network highlights economic efficiency improvements. This thesis demonstrates that realising the full industrial energy efficiency potential requires improvements to public policy intended to overcome market-related barriers, especially the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the Carbon Trust, with additional scope for a mandatory efficiency standard relating to motors. Energy efficiency has to part of a company’s overall strategy to be effective. Future work should focus on heterogeneous sectors and the broader effects on industrial energy efficiency of globalisation and the shift towards services.

This thesis is an introductory research study on the impact of operations management techniques on productivity under Turkish Premier Turgut Ozal's industrial policy. The effectiveness of opening up the economy to international competition has been analyzed by comparing the present industrial productivity to the productivity figures before Premier Turgut Ozal. The evaluation is done through four major areas: quality, operations research techinques, inventory and manpower planning. The final chapter gives a summary of the findings and suggests that competition most likely has helped Turkish industry increase their productivity in these four areas.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 1999.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 23 p. : maps (some col.) Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 23).

This thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 aims to understand how performance-based ranking affect productivity of workers. While providing such ranking may induce workers to increase effort because of status concerns, such information may also demotivate them or make them wary of outperforming peers. This chapter disentangles the effects of demotivation, social conformity, and status associated with ranking. I implement a randomized experiment at a Bangladeshi sweater factory that pays employees on piece rates. Treated workers receive monthly information on their relative performance either in private or in public. A simple theoretical framework shows that intrinsic status concerns induce Private Treatment workers to increase or decrease effort depending on the feedback they receive from the intervention. Workers in Public Treatment respond similarly but face two additional incentives - social status (positive effect) and social conformity (negative effect). Empirical evidence shows that Private Treatment workers increased (decreased) effort upon receiving positive (negative) feedback. Public ranking led to lower net effort relative to Private Treatment because of a strong preference not to outperform friends. The negative effects from demotivation and social conformity may explain why the existing literature finds mixed evidence of impact of ranking workers. In Chapter 2, we look at how firing of workers in an organization affect the productivity of the surviving co-workers. We take advantage of detailed individual-level production records from, and extensive fieldwork conducted at, a large Bangladeshi sweater factory before, during, and after several episodes of labour unrest that eventually led the management to fire approximately 25 percent of the labour force on the relevant production floor. Exploiting across-worker variation in exposure to colleagues' terminations, we document a negative impact of the firings on productivity of surviving workers. Fired co-workers' spatial proximity drives the results. Additional evidence rules out a number of competing mechanisms such as subsequent targeted punishments from management, loss of productive peers, or attention diverted to help recently hired and inexperienced co-workers. We argue that the effects are likely driven by workers' feelings of loss or anger towards the management. Chapter 3 studies the relationship between external shocks, such as political strikes and labour unrest, and productivity in the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh. Using data from 33 ready-made garment factories in Bangladesh and adopting an event-study approach, we document very little change in productivity or worker absenteeism during political strikes lasting two days or less. Productivity falls when strikes last five days or more. The main channel for such fall appears to be supply-chain disruptions rather than worker absenteeism. However, absenteeism and quality defect rates increase immediately during labour unrest, resulting in a decrease in output. As a benchmark comparison, we show that the drop in productivity from sustained strikes or labour unrest is equivalent to a fall in productivity due to an increase of about 7 degrees centigrade in temperature.

This thesis aims to empirically investigate the links between urban density, human capital and productivity in service industries. By using firm-level data of manufacturing and service industries in China, I estimate the production function and compare how density effects vary between manufacturing and services and between producer services and non-producer services. Results show there exist significant economies of density in both the manufacturing sector and the service sector, and that doubling city population density increases productivity in services by about 10% to 11%, as compare with around 7.5% that is estimated for manufacturing firms. Moreover, I divide the service-firm sample into four subsamples: producer services, non-producer services, wholesale trade and retail trade. After controlling for firm-level human capital (the proportion of employees with at least a Bachelor’s degree) and other firm characteristics, the estimated population density effects on productivity are about 6%, 11%, 13% and 19% for producer services, non-producer services, wholesale trade and retail trade respectively. On average a larger proportion of employees with Bachelor’s degree or higher are hired in producer services. Larger human capital effects on productivity are also found. Some possible sources of the economies of density are investigated. Firm-Level economies of scale are found among service firms but not among manufacturing firms, whereas localization economies are found in both service and manufacturing industries. Estimates suggest that a larger share of better educated employees are hired in producer service industries in cities with denser employment, while the opposite is true for the other service firms.

This thesis presents a coherent, sustained and substantial contribution to the advancement of knowledge or application of knowledge or both in the field of construction management and economics. More specifically, this thesis outlines the strategic development of the built environment through lessons from international construction, quality and productivity management. The strategic role of construction in economic development is emphasized. It describes the contributions transnational construction firms made towards modern-day construction project management practices globally. It establishes the relationship between construction quality and economic development and fosters a better understanding of total quality management and quality management systems in enhancing construction industry performance. Additionally, it prescribes lessons from the manufacturing industry for construction productivity and identifies the amount of carbon emissions reduced through lean construction management practices to alleviate the generally adverse effects of the built environment on global climate change. It highlights the need for integrated management systems to enhance quality and productivity for sustainable development in the built environment. The thesis is an account of how the built environment has evolved, leveraging on lessons from international construction, quality and productivity management for improvements over the past two decades.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed September 3, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-104).

In the current literature on productivity and economic growth, many studies have explored the relationship between information and communications technology (ICT) and growth. In these studies, ICT capital stock is treated as an individual input in the production process that contributes to output growth. In fact, ICT is found to be a key driver of productivity growth in the developed economies. However, few empirical studies deal with China which has in recent years become one of the world's largest ICT markets and production centres. The lack of empirical work in this field contrasts sharply with the wealth of literature which presents background and descriptive studies of China's high technology sectors that include the telecommunications, the computer and the Internet sectors. This dissertation attempts to fill the void in the literature by examining the role of ICT in China's economy over the past two decades. It aims to develop a framework which emphasizes ICT as a production factor and apply it to interpret China's economic growth. The dissertation contributes to the empirical literature by focusing on the following core aspects underlying the linkage between ICT and economic growth. First, it attempts to estimate the size of China's ICT capital stock using the perpetual inventory method. Second, based on such estimates, the dissertation measures the contribution of ICT to China's economic growth by means of a production function model that segregates ICT from all other forms of capital. Third, the dissertation examines the impact of ICT on technical efficiency in China's regions by applying a stochastic frontier model. Lastly, the dissertation looks at the demand aspect of the ICT industry by estimating and projecting demand for ICT services, namely, the telecommunications and computer markets in China. According to this study, ICT capital is found to be a positive driver for the Chinese economy, and is responsible for about 25% of the country's economic growth, although the percentage varies at different periods. ICT capital is also found to have a positive and significant impact on technical efficiency in the Chinese regions. However, the disparity between the coastal and inland regions in terms of technical efficiency scores is found to be very wide, due to the bulk of ICT investment going into the municipal cities and coastal provinces. It is also found that China may be facing the beginning of a period of strong productivity growth driven by increased investment in ICT, especially innovative investment. Furthermore, projections of demand show that the majority of Chinese citizens will have access to a fixed-line telephone or the mobile phone in five years from now, while about half of the Chinese population is expected to use the computer by 2010.

Includes bibliograhical references (leaves 239-251) Concerned with the influence that the production of innovative goods has on the economic growth rate of a country. Proposes that amongst the developed economies, the higher the level of production of innovative goods within a country, the higher the GDP growth rate, all else being equal.

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The main purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the capacity of sectors of the Brazilian economy to tranfer their productivity gains over the production chain, in the period 2000-2009. In this way, an adjustment is performed, through the structural decomposition technique of the input-output analysis of Dietzenbacher and Los (1998), of the method proposed by Greenhalgh e Gregory (2000). The fundamental assumptions, based on the structuralist current, are that the Industry tends to have larger increases in productivity and linkages with other segments of the economy, especially when compared to the Services. Together, these attributes would make that the productivity gains of the industrial sector propagate more intensely by the productive chain. The results show that in the period analyzed, the Agricultural and Services were the primarily responsible for transmiting these increments for the rest of the economy, instead of Industry, which moved forward losses of productivity. However, despite the Services have become more productive and transferred these gains over the production chain, the average transmission power of its segments was relatively low compared to the Industry's ability to transmit forward its productivity losses. This is because a considerable portion of the increments of the tertiary sector occurred in Personal Services, segment with reduced links in the production chain and whose goods meet, mainly, the individual consumer. The fact that the Industry ´s power transmission is, on average, higher than that of Services implies that if the industrial sector had increase its productivity, rather than decrease it, greater productivity gains would have been transmitted to the other segments of the economy that have been verified by the productivity gains of Services. However, it is important to stress that certain activities of the tertiary sector showed high potential to transfer these increments. This was the case of the Knowledge-Intensive Business Services.
O objetivo principal desta dissertação é analisar a capacidade dos setores da economia brasileira de transferir seus ganhos de produtividade ao longo da cadeia produtiva, no período 2000-2009. Neste sentido, é realizada uma adaptação, por meio da técnica de decomposição estrutural da análise de insumo-produto de Dietzenbacher e Los (1998), do método proposto por Greenhalgh e Gregory (2000). As hipóteses fundamentais, baseadas na corrente estruturalista, são de que a Indústria tende a apresentar maiores incrementos de produtividade e relações de encadeamento com os demais segmentos da economia, especialmente quando comparadas aos Serviços. Juntos, tais atributos fariam com que com os ganhos de produtividade do setor industrial se espraiassem mais intensamente pela cadeia produtiva.Os resultados apontam que no período analisado,a Agropecuária e os Serviços foram os principais responsáveis por transmitirem este sincrementos para o restante da economia, em detrimento da Indústria, a qual transferiu para frente perdas de produtividade. No entanto, apesar dos Serviços terem se tornado mais produtivos e transferido estes ganhos ao longo da cadeia produtiva, o poder de transmissão médio dos seus segmentos mostrou-se relativamente baixo quando comparado à capacidade da Indústria transmitir para frente suas perdas de produtividade. Isto porque parcela considerável dos incrementos do setor terciário ocorreu nos Serviços Pessoais, segmento com reduzidos elos na cadeia produtiva e cujos bens atendem, majoritariamente, o consumidor individual. O fato do poder de transmissão da Indústria ser, na média,superior ao dos Serviços, implica que se o setor industrial tivesse elevado sua produtividade, ao invés de diminuí-la, maiores ganhos de produtividade teriam sido transbordados para os outros segmentos da economia do que foram verificados pelo aumento da produtividade dos Serviços. É importante ressaltar, no entanto, que determinadas atividades do setor terciário apresentaram elevado potencial de transferir estes incrementos. Este foi o caso dos Serviços Empresariais Intensivos em Conhecimento.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 23, 2010). Thesis advisor: Dr. Craig Palmer. Includes bibliographical references.

La présente thèse contribue à la littérature en économie internationale en s'intéressant à l'impact des lieux commerciaux et des réformes structurelles sur la croissance de la productivité agrégée dans le secteur manufacturier en Europe et en Inde. Dans le premier chapitre co-écrit avec Antoine Berthou, Jong-Chung Chung et Kalina Manova, nous montrons que l'expansion des exportations et des importations stimule la productivité du travail, mais seule la demande à l’exportation réalloue l'activité vers les entreprises plus productives en présence de distorsions de prix. De plus, les frictions liées aux imperfections de marché et la mauvaise qualité des institutions freinent la capacité des économies à réagir aux chocs de commerce subis par les entreprises nationales. Dans le second chapitre, je trouve que l'augmentation des importations d'intrants intermédiaires depuis la Chine contribue de manière significative à la croissance agrégée de la PTF en France grâce à une plus grande efficacité de répartition des parts de marché entre les entreprises. En effet, permettre à un plus grand nombre d'entreprises d'avoir accès à des biens intermédiaires au meilleur rapport qualité-prix stimule la croissance de la productivité agrégée. Dans le troisième chapitre co-écrit avec Adil Mohommad et Piyaporn Sodsriwiboon, nous montrons que des réformes favorisant davantage de flexibilité sur le marché du travail et une meilleure allocation des crédits entre entreprises réduisent les distorsions de marché payées par les entreprises et génèrent des gains de productivité et une croissance économique plus forte à long terme en Inde
In this dissertation, I contribute to the literature on international economics by drawing attention to the impact of trade flows and structural reforms on productivity growth in the manufacturing sector in Europe and India. ln the first chapter co-authored, with Antoine Berthou, Jong-Chung Chung and Kalina Manova, we demonstrate that growth in exports and imports boosts labor productivity, but only export demand reallocates activity toward more productive firms in presence of price distortions. Moreover, market and institutional frictions dampen the ability of economies to react and gain from trade shocks. ln the second chapter, I show that the increase in Chinese imports of intermediate inputs is a significant driver of aggregate TFP growth in France as it increases efficiency in sharing market shares between firms. Allowing more firms to access intermediate goods at the best price-quality ratio stimulates aggregate productivity growth. ln the third chapter, co-written with Adil Mohommad and Piyapom Sodsriwiboon, our finding suggests that removing structural rigidities in the labor market and improving credit allocation would reduce distortions and contribute to productivity gains and long term growth in India

The United Kingdom's postwar economic recovery and the usefulness of Marshall Plan aid depended heavily on a rapid increase in exports by the country's manufacturing industries. American aid administrators, however, shocked to discover the British industry's inability to respond to the country's urgent need, insisted on aggressive action to improve productivity. In partial response, a joint venture, called the Anglo-American Council on Productivity (AACP), arranged for sixty-six teams involving nearly one thousand people to visit U.S. factories and bring back productivity improvement ideas. Analyses of team recommendations, and a brief review of the country's industrial history, offer compelling insights into the problems of relative industrial decline. This dissertation attempts to assess the reasons for British industry's inability to respond to the country's economic emergency or to maintain its competitive position faced with the challenge of newer industrializing countries.

[eng] This dissertation thesis analyzes the determinants of the capital ratio of banks and also the dynamics of the leverage ratio, exploring the driving forces of the issuance of debt and capital instruments. My thesis contributes to shed light on how certain decisions of banks during the years prior the crisis generated latent risks in their liability side that were revealed with the outburst of the crisis, and on the implications of the restructuring for the banking system in terms of productivity, concentration and profitability. This dissertation can be divided in three well-differentiated chapters. The first two chapters focus on the years before the crisis, and the last chapter analyzes the changes in the banking sector after the crisis. Chapter 1 explores how banks choose the composition of regulatory capital, and whether different structure of regulatory capital might entangle different risks of the bank. The target is to analyze whether banks fulfill their regulatory obligations using a combination of financial instruments that do not minimize the capacity to absorb losses, but that respond to other incentives such as the minimization of financing costs. Using data of Spanish banks during the period 1998-2007, we provide evidence that the increasing weight of hybrid capital can be read as a leveraging process within the regulatory capital, since there is an increment of the debt-like instruments with respect to the common capital that responds to the same determinants than the standard leverage ratio. The second Chapter of this thesis analyzes the same problem from a dynamic perspective, focusing on the issuances of financial instruments and empirically testing a set of hypotheses on the decisions to issue different types of financial instruments. This Chapter analyzes the financing choices of banks under capital regulation during the expansion period that preceded the crisis using data from Dealogic on the issuances of financial instruments of Spanish banks to test whether financing choices respond to predictions derived from the corporate finance theory and/or to capital regulation. We find that banks financed their exponential growth with debt instruments and covered the additional regulatory capital requirements from higher risk-weighted assets with the issuance of hybrid instruments. We also find that banks choose the financial instruments that minimize asymmetric information costs. Finally, Chapter 3 of this thesis is focused on the consequences of the crisis on banks from the point of view of productivity and the effect on bank restructuring. This Chapter analyzes the effects of banking productivity on the evolution of interest rates and on the exit of banks from the Spanish banking sector during the years 2007-2015. Using a theoretical framework of competition with heterogeneity in operating costs, we propose a set of hypotheses which are tested using empirical models. The results show that the productivity of the banking industry had a moderate growth of 2% during the period analyzed, that improvements in the efficiency of the banks are transferred to a decrease in loans’ interest rates and bank fees, and that a context of low interest rates does not necessarily imply a reduction in the intermediation margin because the banks can compensate the negative margins of the deposits with an increase in the differential of their loans with respect to the interbank interest rate. The study also shows that the most productive banks could have taken advantage of the restructuring process to expand their branch network in markets where they have a low presence through the absorption of less productive banks.
[eng] This dissertation thesis analyzes the determinants of the capital ratio of banks and also the dynamics of the leverage ratio, exploring the driving forces of the issuance of debt and capital instruments. My thesis contributes to shed light on how certain decisions of banks during the years prior the crisis generated latent risks in their liability side that were revealed with the outburst of the crisis, and on the implications of the restructuring for the banking system in terms of productivity, concentration and profitability. This dissertation can be divided in three well-differentiated chapters. The first two chapters focus on the years before the crisis, and the last chapter analyzes the changes in the banking sector after the crisis. Chapter 1 explores how banks choose the composition of regulatory capital, and whether different structure of regulatory capital might entangle different risks of the bank. The target is to analyze whether banks fulfill their regulatory obligations using a combination of financial instruments that do not minimize the capacity to absorb losses, but that respond to other incentives such as the minimization of financing costs. Using data of Spanish banks during the period 1998-2007, we provide evidence that the increasing weight of hybrid capital can be read as a leveraging process within the regulatory capital, since there is an increment of the debt-like instruments with respect to the common capital that responds to the same determinants than the standard leverage ratio. The second Chapter of this thesis analyzes the same problem from a dynamic perspective, focusing on the issuances of financial instruments and empirically testing a set of hypotheses on the decisions to issue different types of financial instruments. This Chapter analyzes the financing choices of banks under capital regulation during the expansion period that preceded the crisis using data from Dealogic on the issuances of financial instruments of Spanish banks to test whether financing choices respond to predictions derived from the corporate finance theory and/or to capital regulation. We find that banks financed their exponential growth with debt instruments and covered the additional regulatory capital requirements from higher risk-weighted assets with the issuance of hybrid instruments. We also find that banks choose the financial instruments that minimize asymmetric information costs. Finally, Chapter 3 of this thesis is focused on the consequences of the crisis on banks from the point of view of productivity and the effect on bank restructuring. This Chapter analyzes the effects of banking productivity on the evolution of interest rates and on the exit of banks from the Spanish banking sector during the years 2007-2015. Using a theoretical framework of competition with heterogeneity in operating costs, we propose a set of hypotheses which are tested using empirical models. The results show that the productivity of the banking industry had a moderate growth of 2% during the period analyzed, that improvements in the efficiency of the banks are transferred to a decrease in loans’ interest rates and bank fees, and that a context of low interest rates does not necessarily imply a reduction in the intermediation margin because the banks can compensate the negative margins of the deposits with an increase in the differential of their loans with respect to the interbank interest rate. The study also shows that the most productive banks could have taken advantage of the restructuring process to expand their branch network in markets where they have a low presence through the absorption of less productive banks.
[cat] Aquesta tesi analitza els determinants de la ràtio de capital dels bancs així com la dinàmica de la ràtio d'endeutament, explorant els elements que determinen l'emissió de deute i els instruments de capital. La meva tesi contribueix a comprendre com certes decisions dels bancs durant els anys previs a la crisi van generar riscos latents en el seu passiu que es van revelar amb l'esclat de la crisi, i sobre les implicacions de la reestructuració per al sistema bancari en termes de productivitat, concentració i rendibilitat. Aquesta tesi es pot dividir en tres capítols ben diferenciats. Els dos primers, se centren en els anys previs a la crisi mentre que l'últim capítol analitza els canvis en el sector bancari posteriors a la crisi. El Capítol 1 se centra en els determinants de les estructures de capital dels bancs considerant l'existència de la regulació de capital. L'objectiu és analitzar si els bancs compleixen amb els requeriments regulatoris mitjançant una combinació d'instruments financers que no minimitzen la capacitat d'absorbir pèrdues, sinó que responen a altres incentius, com la minimització dels costos de finançament. Utilitzant dades del sistema bancari espanyol durant el període 1998-2007, aportem evidència que el pes creixent del capital híbrid pot interpretar-se com un procés de palanquejament dins el capital regulatori, ja que hi ha un increment dels instruments de característiques típiques als instruments de deute en relació al capital que respon als mateixos determinants que la ràtio de palanquejament estàndard. El segon capítol d'aquesta tesi analitza el mateix problema des d'una perspectiva dinàmica, centrant-se en les emissions d'instruments financers i contrastant empíricament un conjunt d'hipòtesis sobre les decisions d'emetre diferents tipus d'instruments financers. Aquest capítol analitza les eleccions de finançament dels bancs subjectes a la regulació de capital durant el període d'expansió que va precedir a la crisi utilitzant dades de Dealogic sobre les emissions d'instruments financers de bancs espanyols per avaluar si les opcions de finançament responen a les prediccions derivades de les teories clàssiques de finances corporatives i / o l'existència de regulació bancària. Trobem que els bancs van finançar el seu creixement exponencial amb instruments de deute cobrint els requeriments addicionals de capital regulatori amb l'emissió d'instruments híbrids. També vam concloure que els bancs trien els instruments financers que minimitzen els costos derivats de l'existència d'informació asimètrica. Finalment, el Capítol 3 es centra en les conseqüències de la crisi des del punt de vista de la productivitat i l'efecte sobre la reestructuració bancària. Aquest capítol analitza els efectes de la productivitat bancària en l'evolució dels tipus d'interès i en la sortida dels bancs del sector bancari espanyol durant els anys 2007-2015. Usant un marc teòric de competència amb heterogeneïtat en els costos operatius, proposem un conjunt d'hipòtesis que es contrasten mitjançant models empírics. Els resultats mostren que la productivitat de la indústria bancària va tenir un creixement moderat del 2% durant el període analitzat, que les millores en l'eficiència dels bancs van repercutir en una disminució en les taxes d'interès i comissions bancàries, i que un context de baixes taxes d'interès no implica necessàriament una reducció en el marge d'intermediació ja que els bancs poden compensar els marges negatius dels dipòsits amb un augment en el diferencial dels seus préstecs pel que fa a la taxa d'interès interbancària. La nostra anàlisi també mostra que els bancs més productius podrien haver aprofitat el procés de reestructuració per expandir la seva xarxa de sucursals a mercats en els que tenen una baixa presència mitjançant l'absorció de bancs menys productius.

Nonparametric linear programming tests for consistency with the hypotheses of technical efficiency and allocative efficiency for the general case of multiple output-multiple input technologies are developed in Part I. The tests are formulated relative to three kinds of technologies — convex, constant returns to scale and quasiconcave technologies. Violation indices as summary indicators of the distance of an inefficient observation from an efficient allocation are proposed. The consistent development of the violation indices across the technical efficiency and allocative efficiency tests allows us to obtain comparative measures of the degrees of technical inefficiency and pure allocative inefficiency. Constrained optimization tests applicable to cases where the producer is restricted to optimizing with respect to a subset of goods are also proposed. The latter tests yield the revealed preference-type inequalities commonly used as tests for consistency of observed data with profit maximizing or cost minimizing behavior as limiting cases. Computer programs for implementing the different tests and sample results are listed in the appendix. In part II, an empirical comparison of nonparametric and parametric measures of technical progress for constant returns to scale technologies is performed using the Canadian input-output data for the period 1961-1980. The original data base was aggregated into four sectors and ten goods and the comparison was done for each sector. If we assume optimizing behavior on the part of the producers, we can reinterpret the violation indices yielded by the efficiency tests in part I as indicators of the shift in the production frontier. More precisely, the violation indices can be considered nonparametric chained indices of technical progress. The parametric measures of technical progress were obtained through econometric profit function estimation using the generalized McFadden flexible functional form with a quadratic spline model for technical progress proposed by Diewert and Wales (1989). Under the assumption of constant returns, the index of technical change is defined in terms of the unit scale profit function which gives the per unit return to the normalizing good. The empirical results show that the parametric estimates of technical change display a much smoother behavior which can be attributed to the incorporation of stochastic disturbance terms in the estimation procedure and, more interestingly, track the long term trend in the nonparametric estimates. Part III builds on the theory of minimum wages in international trade and is a theoretical essay in the tradition of analyzing the effects of factor market imperfections on resource allocation. The comparative static responses of the endogenous variables — output levels, employment levels of fixed-price factors with elastic supply and flexible prices of domestic resources — to marginal changes in the economy's exogenous variables — output prices, fixed factor prices and endowments of flexibly-priced domestic resources -— are examined. The effect of a change in a fixed factor price on other flexible factor prices can be decomposed Slutsky-like into substitution and scale effects. A symmetry condition between fixed factor prices and flexible factor prices is obtained which clarifies the concepts of "substitutability" and "complementarity" between these two kinds of factors. As an illustration, the model is applied to the case of a devaluation in a two-sector small open economy with rigid wages and capital as specific factors. The empirical implementation of the general model for the Canadian economy is left to more able econometricians but a starting point can be the sectoral analysis performed in Part II.
Arts, Faculty of
Vancouver School of Economics
Graduate

L'industrie francaise a vu sa rentabilite (percue comme le rapport entre la masse de profit realisee annuellement et l'ensemble des capitaux avances) diminuer sensiblement au cours de la decennie soixante-dix. La cause fondamentale de cette degradation est a rechercher au coeur des proces de production; l'efficacite de ces derniers (productivites du travail, du capital fixe, des consommations intermediaires) s'est deterioree ou a augmente moins vite qu'auparavant. Le freinage des gains de productivite a retroagi en particulier sur la hausse du rapport salaires-profit (ralentissement de la plus-value relative) ainsi que sur la composition organique du capital, mais dans une moindre mesure, alors que la composition valeur est restee quasi stable pendant cette periode. La combinaison de ces phenomenes conduit a s'interroger sur les formes de de la manifestation de la loi de baisse tendancielle du taux de profit telles que les avait envisagees marx. Derriere ce mouvement d'ensemble se cachent des mouvements particuliers au niveau des branches de production. Deux constats originaux peuvent etre faits. Premierement, les branches d'industrie realisant les taux de profit les plus eleves possedent les compositions de capital les plus faibles, et inversement. Ce constat remet en cause l'approche traditionnelle de la perequation des taux de profit entre branches qui veut que la plus-value sociale soit repartie proportionnellement aux avances en capital total (constant et variable). Deuxiemement, sur l'ensemble de la periode, et pour la grande majorite des branches, les gains de productivite ne sont pas synonymes de meilleure rentabilite. Au contraire, nous observons plutot une hierarchisation des branches en termes de rentabilite inverse a la hierarchisation des branches en termes d'efficacite productive. Cela conduit a s'interroger dans certains cas (branches, economie nationale) sur la pertinence du taux de profit comme indicateur de l'efficacite d'un proces de production
The french industry saw its profitability (perceived as being the ratio between the total amount of profits made yearly and the capital invested as a whole) noticeably decrease during the 70ies. The main cause of this decline is to be found in the heart of the process of production; the efficiency of the latter (productivity of the work, of the equipment, of intermediate consumptions) worsened or increased less quickly than before. The slackening of the rise in productivity retroacted particularly on the rise of the ratio wages-profit (the slowdown of the relative surplus-value) as well as on the organic composition of capital, but to a lesser extent, while the value-composition has remained stable during that time. The combination of these phenomena leads us to wonder about the different forms that the law of the falling tendency of the rate of profit can take as marx had envisaged them. Peculiar movements at the level of production branches are concealed by this general tendency. Two original remarks can be made. First, the industrial sectors which realize the highest rates of profit own the lowest compositions of capital and vice-versa. This observation questions the traditional approach to the equalization of the rates of profit in different sectors which says that the social surplus-value should be distributed proportionally to the total capital investment (constant and variable). Second, during this whole period and for most sectors, the rise in productivity is not synonymous with better profitability. On the contrary, we can notice rather a hierarchical organization of sectors in terms of profitability as opposed to a hierarchical organization of sectors in terms of productive efficiency. Thus we come to wonder in some cases (sectors, national economy) about the relevance of the rate of profit as an indicator of the efficiency of a process of production

This thesis examines the Chinese economy by focusing on the specialized human capital themes of production processes, regional productivity disparities and convergence, cost competitiveness comparisons and private returns to education from 1978 to 2009. Chapter 2 reviews the growth accounting model and measurement methods of its components such as capital services, labour inputs, labour composition index and Total Factor Productivity index. China’s spectacular economic growth is from unequal performance of provinces and regions. Thus, chapter 3 examines effects of the physical and human capital on disparities and convergence of labour productivity, Total Factor Productivity and average wages in China, incorporating the market reform factors. We find that composition-adjusted human capital is more important than capital services in the production function. We also overcome the endogeneity of schooling in the wage function with instrumental variables. In chapter 4, we discuss industrial disparities and convergence across countries and provinces from labour costs perspective to figure out industries with comparative competitiveness advantage. Moreover, we correct the Heckman selection bias problems of education returns in chapter 5. We find that education returns keep on rising over time, which support human capital hypothesis rather than the signalling effect for all age groups except the group educated during the “Cultural Revolution”.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This paper discusses factors that contribute to information technology (IT) investment not paying off as might have been expected. The main purpose is to describe this IT _productivity paradox. The paper explores ideas that align organizations' business strategies and information technology as a key to achieving improved productivity. Which are possible to properly measure in terms of the financial results? The main aims and objectives are to find out why managers invest in IT; whether there is a phenomenon such as an IT productivity paradox; whether IT pays off as expected; and how IT impacts on organizations. The study will investigate options for proper management of information technology and data structures. It is necessary to ascertain whether ensuring proper IT implementation has a positive impact on productivity, leading to increased innovation and performance. The research design builds on research done on the use of IT in organizations, usmg a qualitative research method. This research paper looks at organizational issues such as IT management styles, political and ethical issues, and work settings. The paper looks at organizations across the service and manufacturing sectors to determine their production, innovation, and profits into their existing organizational processes and how technology is interpreted. A group of IT users, IT managers and analysts were used as a sample to study the way IT managers and knowledge workers encounter information technology in organizations. The research method used in this research paper is called the informant approach, to take points of entry IT users would provide. This means that the interviewee, in this case the IT user was questioned on the use of information technology tools to gather information. In this study the aim was to conduct interviews with IT users and those they work with about their experiences. The sampling population was selected on the basis that they use this technology. In the data collection method a second interview was used to gather first-hand responses from the respondents to help me consolidate the information gathered to validate and ensure that it is reliable. The validity and reliability aspect of this research paper are based on the main sources of data and interpretation and adopts coding as the main technique of analysis. The internal reliability of this research methodology concern itself with the research methods that were used within this research paper. Measures to be taken in the paper are to obtain internal reliability in systematic gathering of data. The last part of this paper presents the conclusions and recommendations for changes to be made by managers and those investing in IT. IT managers should plan strategically when dealing with sales and marketers in order to put business needs before the needs of IT or systems. Technology should fit business needs rather than the business adjusted to fit the technology. IT should not cost an organization any additional profit it generates.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Belegging in Informasietegnologie skyn nie so betalend te wees as wat aanvanklik verwag is nie. Hierdie studie beskryf bogenoemde IT produktiwiteitsparadoks, en ondersoek faktore wat daartoe bydra. Verder word planne wat ten doel stel om organisasies se besigheidsstrategie en IT te laat saamwerk ten einde produktiwiteit te verhoog, ondersoek. Is dit moontlik om hierdie te meet in terme van finansiële resultate? Ander voornemens is om te bepaal waarom bestuurders in IT belê, is dit so betalend soos aanvanklik geskat is, hoe dit die maatskappy beïnvloed en bestaan daar werklik 'n verskynsel soos die IT produktiwiteitsparadoks? Hierdie studie sal moontlikhede ondersoek vir kundige bestuur van IT en datastrukture. Dit is nodig om vas te stel of die deeglike toepassing van IT 'n positiewe uitwerking het op vernuwende denke en produktiwiteit. Die navorsingsontwerp is gebaseer op navorsing wat reeds gedoen is oor die gebruik van IT in organisasies. In hierdie navorsing word ondersoek ingestel na organisatoriese kwessies soos IT bestuursmetodes, politieke en etiese invloede en werksomstandighede. Hierdie dokument neem maatskappye regoor die diens- en vervaardingsektore in oënskou ten opsigte van hul produksie, vernuwende idees en winsmarge, hoe hierdie aspekte inpas in hul huidige organisatoriese prosesse en hoe tegnologie interpreteer word. 'n Groep van IT gebruikers, IT bestuurders en analiste is as monster geneem, ten einde die manier waarop IT bestuurders en inligtingwerkers informasietegnologie teëkom in maatskappye te bestudeer. Die navorsingsmetode wat tydens hierdie studie gebruik is, word genoem die informantbenadering, wat behels om informasie te gebruik wat deur IT gebruikers verskaf word. Dit beteken dat die IT gebruiker ondervra word oor die gebruik van IT toerusting om informasie te versamel. Die doelwit was om onderhoude met IT gebruikers te voer, asook diegene met wie hulle saamwerk, in verband met hulondervindinge. Die steekproefpopulasie is gekies op grond daarvan dat hulle IT gebruik. In die datainsamelingsmetode is 'n tweede onderhoud gehou om eerstehandse menings van die respondente te verkry, met die doel om die informasie tot dusver te bevestig as betroubaar. Die geldigheid- en betroubaarheidsaspekte van hierdie dokument is gebaseer op die hoofbronne van data en vertolking en gebruik kodering as die primêre tegniek van analise. Die intrinsieke betroubaarheid van hierdie navorsingsmetode is gebaseer op die navorsingsmetodes wat gebruik is vir hierdie studie. Stappe is geneem tydens die studie om intrinsieke betroubaarheid te verkry deur die sistematiese verkryging van data. Die laaste deel van hierdie dokument bied die gevoltrekkings aan en ook voorstelle vir veranderings wat gemaak kan word deur bestuurders en diegene wat belê in IT. IT bestuurders behoort strategies te beplan wanneer hulle in aanraking kom met handelaars, om doelgerig die benodighede van die maatskappy te stel voor die benodigdhede van die IT en gepaardgaande sisteme. Tegnologie behoort in te pas by die benodigdhede van die maatskappyeerder dat die maatskappy hoef aan te pas by die tegnologie. IT behoort nie die maatskappy meer uit die sak te jaag as wat dit aan wins genereer nie.

Durante los últimos 40 años, junto con los avances historiográficos en el ámbito de la historia económica, se ha generado un debate recurrente sobre el nivel económico de Latinoamérica durante el siglo XIX y cuál era el grado de industrialización de la región en los albores de la I Guerra Mundial. En el caso de Chile, esta pregunta está aún en vías de ser resuelta, pues aún no existe un trabajo cuantitativo definitivo y enriquecedor que logre situar las principales variables macroeconómicas del país en un contexto internacional. La presente tesis doctoral pretende aportar a este debate, mediante el estudio del desempeño de la inversión, el stock y la productividad del capital en maquinaria de Chile durante el periodo 1830 - 1938. Ésta se inscribe dentro de la tradición de la historia económica cuantitativa y de reconstrucción de cuentas nacionales en el largo plazo. Las medidas de inversión y sus derivados, entiéndase precios, sectores, productividad y stock capital en maquinaria, tienen como fin, generar una aproximación al desempeño de la economía chilena en el siglo XIX y el primer tercio del XX, ampliando, complementando y criticando las visiones actuales del periodo mencionado. En este sentido, el principal objetivo es graficar el comportamiento de la economía chilena a través de su proceso de maquinización, entendiendo este paso como base de una futura industrialización o modernización, considerando los dos procesos como positivos para una economía en desarrollo. La elaboración de la serie de maquinaria en sus distintas facetas contribuirá a formar una idea más fidedigna con respecto a la estructura de esta economía latinoamericana, además de permitir comparaciones internacionales con países que ya han realizado procesos de reconstrucción de la inversión en maquinaria (UK, Países Bajos y Suecia) Surgirán dos resultados posibles, que constituirán la hipótesis principal: 1) la inversión en maquinaria durante el periodo fue creciendo constantemente y aumentando la capacidad productiva del país; 2) la inversión en maquinaria no muestra un ritmo creciente en comparación con los países que estuvieron a la par de Chile y hoy son desarrollados; se fue estancando producto de la aparición de adversas condiciones y la aparición de actividades económicas rentables que necesitaron menos maquinaria y desincentivos institucionales a la inversión. En correspondencia con el punto anterior, la presente disertación aportará datos relevantes a los procesos de divergencia y convergencia de la economía chilena, no solamente en relación con sus pares latinoamericanos, si no con el resto del mundo. Un ejemplo paradigmático, que grafica la divergencia, es la comparación con Suecia. El PIB per cápita del país nórdico en 1.890 era de US$ 2.086, mientras que el de Chile le seguía de muy cerca, con US$ 1.966. Lo interesante es que la importación de maquinaria per cápita de ambos países proveniente del Reino Unido - para entonces el principal exportador a estas dos economías similares en tamaño, población y estructura exportadora-, era de 50 libras esterlinas en el caso de Suecia (238.000 en total), mientras que en Chile la cifra ascendía a 121 libras (308.439 en total). Sin entrar aún en el análisis de la calidad de la maquinaria importada, es posible adelantar que esta relación de la maquinaria en la importación/producción irá mermando en el tiempo, aumentando la importación y producción de maquinaria per cápita en Suecia, mientras que en Chile aumentará la importación, hasta caer abruptamente durante la I Guerra Mundial y no recuperará esos niveles en un extenso periodo de tiempo. Sería muy aventurado asegurar que la divergencia entre Chile y Suecia pueda atribuirse en su totalidad a esta pérdida de ratio capital - trabajo, pero es un elemento a considerar para un análisis detallado de la productividad. Como podrá advertirse, esta tesis podría caer en el viejo debate sobre si hubo o no un proceso industrializador en Chile antes del proceso de Industrialización por Sustitución de Importaciones. Para darle un enfoque moderno y aportar a la discusión, habrá un capítulo especial dedicado a esta cuestión, que entregará nuevas evidencias sobre el proceso de industrialización antes de la industrialización por sustitución de importaciones. Por lo tanto, sin desviarnos del objetivo primordial, que es entregar una aproximación al desempeño económico de Chile en el contexto latinoamericano, por medio de los indicadores de inversión en maquinaria, la disertación aportará al debate con nuevas evidencias sobre el desempeño industrial de Chile en el periodo 1880-1938. La investigación se ha realizado en base a fuentes oficiales, principalmente las estadísticas de comercio exterior de la República de Chile, y cuando esto no ha sido posible, los anuarios estadísticos de Chile, que traen versiones más resumidas de los primeros. También se han utilizado fuentes extranjeras, como el "Annual Statement of the Trade" del Reino Unido, los "Chief Bureau of the Trade" de los Estados Unidos y recopilaciones hechas de Alemania ya trabajadas por otros autores. La principal externalidad positiva lograda con este tipo de recopilación de información y la metodología ocupada, es que se obtuvieron cifras desagregadas de la inversión en maquinaria, según su sector económico, permitiendo analizar la estructura económica de Chile en el XIX y la primera treintena del XX.