Search results for "Productivity"
showing 10 items of 618 documents
Does Firm Size Affect Self-selection and Learning-by-Exporting?
2010
The trade literature has long discussed the existence of some benefits attributed to exporting, among others, the improvement of firm productivity. This paper examines whether firm size plays a role in this supposedly favourable relationship between exporting and total factor productivity (TFP). To examine this, we investigate, separately for large and small firms, whether firms starting to export perform better ex ante (self-selection) than non-exporting firms and, conditional on this fact, if they are also more productive ex post (learning-by-exporting). With this purpose, we use both stochastic dominance and matching techniques. The dataset is a representative sample of Spanish manufactu…
Renewable electricity producing technologies and metal depletion: A sensitivity analysis using the EROI
2015
International audience; More and more attention is being paid to renewable technologies because they are seen as a great opportunity to disengage our society from its dependence on fossil fuels. Such flow-based energy resources that rely on solarenergy are supposed to lead us toward a sustainable energy future. However, because of their high capitalintensity, renewable technologies require large amounts of matter, including both common and rare metals.These metals require energy for their production, and more specifically for their extraction. The energy costassociated with metal extraction is linked to mineral ore grade, meaning that as depletion progresses, energycost increases. In additi…
An Augmented Static Olley-Pakes Productivity Decomposition with Entry and Exit Measurement and Interpretation
2015
We develop an augmented Olley–Pakes (OP) decomposition that allows us to examine how entering and exiting firms contribute to the popular OP covariance measure of allocative efficiency. Applying the decomposition to a comprehensive micro-level data, we find that a large part of the OP covariance component can be attributed to entrants and exiting firms. We also build a model of firm dynamics that is consistent with our main empirical results. In the model economy, the standard OP covariance component tends to increase with certain type of distortions because of endogenous changes in firm entry and exit.
Directional distance functions and environmental regulation
2005
Abstract In this paper we use directional technology distance functions to evaluate the impact of environmental regulations on firms’ performance. Following Fare et al. [Fare, R., Grosskopf, S., Lovell, C.A.K., Pasurka, C., 1989. Multilateral productivity comparisons when some outputs are undesirable: a nonparametric approach. The Review of Economics and Statistics 71, 90–98.], we construct an index that measures opportunity costs for individual firms arising from regulations that prevent free disposal of wastes. The methodology is applied to a sample of Spanish producers of ceramic pavements. We assume that firms maximise desirable output simultaneously reducing inputs, with no change in t…
Heterogeneous effects of sustainable agriculture practices: micro-evidence from Malawi
2020
Abstract Are the effects of sustainable agricultural practices heterogeneous across agro-ecology and wealth in Malawi? Would a wealth-enhancing policy be associated with increased effectiveness of these practices? Focusing on a nationally representative set of Malawian agricultural households, the article answers the above questions by employing plot-level panel data matched with a set of geo-referenced rainfall and temperature records. The findings suggest a positive correlation between aggregate yield and the adoption of organic fertilizer. A similar result holds for legume intercropping and for hybrid seeds, which are associated to reductions in yield volatility between the two waves. Ne…
Unbundling Technology Adoption andtfpat the Firm Level: Do Intangibles Matter?
2015
We use a panel of European firms to investigate the relationship between intangible assets and productivity. We distinguish between total factor productivity (tfp) and technology adoption, whereas standard estimations consider only a notion of productivity that conflates the two effects. Although we are unable to address simultaneity, we allow for the existence of multiple technologies within sectors through a mixture model approach. We find that intangible assets have nonnegligible effects that both push firms toward better technologies (technology adoption effects) and allow for more efficient exploitation of a given technology (tfp effects).
The environmental Kuznets curve within European countries and sectors: greenhouse emission, production function and technology
2018
Based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis and the technological change and the environment literature, our original contribution consists in analysing within the decomposition model the direct and indirect influence of technological change as well as the energy mix on CO2 emissions. Focusing on the dirtiest sectors of 25 EU countries in the period 1997-2005 and considering the endogeneity issue, we estimate an adjusted EKC relationship comparing a single equation model (univariate model) with a simultaneous equations system (bivariate model). Following Lopez (J Environ Econ Manag 27:163-184, 1994), a second equation is introduced where per capita income is a positive functio…
Educational intentions, cognitive skills and earnings expectations of French undergraduates
2014
International audience; This article aims to study the earnings expectations of first-year students at a French university. Our findings highlight the importance of the environment in which students make their choices about education. Expected earnings are proportionally higher when their parents seem to be involved in the careers guidance, taking into account the effect of parental socio-economic status. The positive opinion of parents about the orientation or the connection between the discipline and the father's occupation are generally associated with higher earnings. In addition, our results show a strong impact of cognitive variables which are far more significant than variables relat…
Technological and organizational capital : Where complementarities exist
2018
This study analyzes the complementarities between technological and organizational capital within enterprises. Different components of technological and organizational capital exert distinct—and often opposed—forces on each other. Our empirical results show that greater employee voice promotes firm productivity when combined with information technology, but harms firm productivity when combined with communication technology. On the other hand, flexible work design is positively associated with communication technology and negatively associated with information technology. peerReviewed
The Dynamic Linkages Among Exports, R&D and Productivity
2014
This paper estimates a dynamic model of a firm's decision to export and invest in RD in the second step, we estimate a bivariate dynamic model of the firm's decision to invest in R&D and export, in which we analyse the linkages among investing in R&D, exporting and productivity. Using a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1990–2009, we find that both export and R&D positively affect future productivity, which will drive more firms to self-select in those activities.