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Searching for the "Productivity Slowdown": Some Surprising Findings from West German Manufacturing

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  • Flaig, Gebhard
  • Steiner, Viktor

Abstract

The authors test the hypothesis of a negative long-term trend and/or a structural break in total factor productivi ty after the first oil price shock for West German manufacturing industries within an econometric model based on a flexible cost function with capital as a quasi-fixed factor. After adjusting total factor productivity growth for scale economies and varying capacity utilization, this hypothesis is not supported by their empirical findings for the grea t majority of industries studied, whereas the hypothesis that the (log-)level of total factor productivity follows a random walk with drift is not rejected by various statistical tests. Copyright 1993 by MIT Press.

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  • Flaig, Gebhard & Steiner, Viktor, 1993. "Searching for the "Productivity Slowdown": Some Surprising Findings from West German Manufacturing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(1), pages 57-65, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:75:y:1993:i:1:p:57-65
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    Cited by:

    1. Georg Erber, 1995. "Public Infrastructure, Productivity and Competitiveness: Analysis of Relative Differences and Impacts with Regard to U.S. and German Industries," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 115, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Bertrand Koebel, 1998. "Tests of Representative Firm Models: Results for German Manufacturing Industries," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 251-270, November.
    3. Guenter Lang, 2008. "Measuring the Returns of Research and Development: An Empirical Study of the German Manufacturing Sector over 45 Years," Working Papers 10, The German University in Cairo, Faculty of Management Technology.
    4. Franz, Wolfgang, 1995. "Theoretische Ansätze zur Erklärung der Arbeitslosigkeit: Wo stehen wir 1995?," Discussion Papers 27, University of Konstanz, Center for International Labor Economics (CILE).
    5. Keller, Wolfgang, 2000. "From socialist showcase to Mezzogiorno? Lessons on the role of technical change from East Germany's post-World War II growth performance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 485-514, December.
    6. Kiyohiko G. Nishimura & Masato Shirai, 2000. "Fixed Costs, Imperfect Competition and Bias in Technology Measurement: Japan and the United States," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-97, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    7. Klaus Weyerstrass & Johannes Jaenicke, 2011. "Is more competition conducive to the macroeconomic performance in the euro area?," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 351-380, July.
    8. Catherine L. Mann, 1997. "Globalization and productivity in the United States and Germany," International Finance Discussion Papers 595, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Andreas Kuhlmann, 2007. "Essays on network industries : privatization, regulation, and productivity measurement," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 26.
    10. Nerlinger, Eric A. & Berger, Georg, 1995. "Technologieorientierte Industrien und Unternehmen: Alternative Definitionen," ZEW Discussion Papers 95-20, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Louis Amato & Christie Amato, 2001. "The Effects of Global Competition on Total Factor Productivity in U.S. Manufacturing," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 19(4), pages 405-421, December.
    12. Andreas Kuhlmann, 2006. "German Productivity - A Reassessment via the New Ifo Productivity Database," ifo Working Paper Series 35, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    13. Kiyohiko G. Nishimura & Kazunori Minetaki & Masato Shirai & Futoshi Kurokawa, 2002. "Effects of Information Technology and Aging Work Force on Labor Demand and Technological Progress in Japanese Industries: 1980-1998," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-145, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    14. Georg Erber, 1994. "Technical Change, Economies of Scale, and Factor Augmentation: Impacts on Relative Differences in Productivity and Price Competitiveness between U.S. and German Industries," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 93, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Brandt, Nicola, 2007. "Mark-ups, economies of scale and the role of knowledge spillovers in OECD industries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(7), pages 1708-1732, October.
    16. Rodriguez, X.A., 1999. "A proposal for decomposing and adjusting the conventional Divisia index for the measure of productivity," Economic Development 41, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business. Econometrics..
    17. Bhattacharyya, Anjana & Bhattacharyya, Arunava & Kumbhakar, Subal C., 1997. "Changes in Economic Regime and Productivity Growth: A Study of Indian Public Sector Banks," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 196-219, October.
    18. Lang, Guenter, 2009. "Measuring the returns of R&D--An empirical study of the German manufacturing sector over 45 years," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 1438-1445, November.
    19. Thomas Fuchs, 2005. "Industry Structure and Productivity Growth: Panel Data Evidence for Germany from 1971–2000," ifo Working Paper Series 24, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    20. Guenter Lang, 2002. "Innovative Slowdown, Productivity Reversal? - Estimating the Impact of R&D on Technological Change," Discussion Paper Series 218, Universitaet Augsburg, Institute for Economics.
    21. Buscher, Herbert S. & Felder, Johannes & Steiner, Viktor, 1999. "Regional convergence and economic performance: a case study of the West German Laender," ZEW Discussion Papers 99-10, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    22. Smolny, Werner, 1995. "International sectoral spillovers: An empircal analysis for German and US Industries," Discussion Papers 29, University of Konstanz, Center for International Labor Economics (CILE).
    23. Steiner, Viktor & Wagner, Kersten, 1997. "Relative Earnings and the Demand for Unskilled Labor in West German Manufacturing," ZEW Discussion Papers 97-17, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    24. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Franz, Wolfgang, 1997. "Flexibilität der qualifikatorischen Lohnstruktur und Lastverteilung der Arbeitslosigkeit: Eine ökonometrische Analyse für Westdeutschland," ZEW Discussion Papers 97-32, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

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