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Recessions and total factor productivity: Evidence from sectoral data

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  • Furceri, Davide
  • Kilic Celik, Sinem
  • Jalles, João Tovar
  • Koloskova, Ksenia

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 crisis has generated a concern that productivity (which was already at historically low levels) may further decline. From a theoretical standpoint, the recessions-total factor productivity (TFP) nexus is ambiguous à priori. This paper empirically examines the dynamic impact of recessions on TFP. We compute a new measure of utilization-adjusted productivity from a sample of 24 industries in 18 advanced economies between 1970 and 2014. Resorting to the local projection method we trace out the dynamic short to medium-term impact of such recessionary shocks. We find that deep recessions lead to a permanent deterioration in the level of total factor productivity. This effect is driven by the increase in resource misallocation across different sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Furceri, Davide & Kilic Celik, Sinem & Jalles, João Tovar & Koloskova, Ksenia, 2021. "Recessions and total factor productivity: Evidence from sectoral data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 130-138.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:94:y:2021:i:c:p:130-138
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2020.09.025
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    7. Tervala, Juha, 2021. "Hysteresis and the welfare costs of recessions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 136-144.
    8. Philip Barrett & Sonali Das & Giacomo Magistretti & Evgenia Pugacheva & Philippe Wingender, 2023. "Long COVID? Prospects for economic scarring from the pandemic," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(2), pages 227-242, April.
    9. Sinem Kilic Celik & M. Ayhan Kose & Franziska Ohnsorge & F. Ulrich Ruch, 2023. "Potential Growth: A Global Database," CAMA Working Papers 2023-20, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    10. Lee, Velma & Viale, Ariel M., 2023. "Total factor productivity in East Asia under ambiguity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Recessions; Impulse response functions; Productivity; Local projection; Reallocation effects; Sector-level data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • F45 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Macroeconomic Issues of Monetary Unions
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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