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Are capital shares higher in poor countries? Evidence from Industrial Surveys

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  • Francisco Rodríguez

    (Economics Department, Wesleyan University)

  • Daniel Ortega

    (Center for Finance, Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración)

Abstract

This paper presents new evidence on the cross-country correlation between factor shares and per capita income. The evidence comes from UNIDO and OECD databases of industrial surveys designed to measure economic activity in the corporate manufacturing sector. We show that a statistically significant negative correlation is present in both data sets. The correlation is robust to controlling for methodological variations in the valuation, concept and definition of value added and labor income. It is also present within 3 and 4-digit industries. We argue that previous evidence on capital shares derived from national accounts statistics is consistent with the negative relation that we find on the industrial survey data.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisco Rodríguez & Daniel Ortega, 2006. "Are capital shares higher in poor countries? Evidence from Industrial Surveys," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2006-023, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wes:weswpa:2006-023
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    Cited by:

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    2. Raúl Fuentes Z. & Javier Scavia D. & Juan Berríos P., 2014. "About the long-term distributional impact of embodied technological progress (without spillover effects) in developing countries," Journal Economía Chilena (The Chilean Economy), Central Bank of Chile, vol. 17(3), pages 28-54, December.
    3. Paul Maarek & Elsa Orgiazzi, 2020. "Development and the Labor Share," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 232-257.
    4. Alberto Bucci & Chiara Del Bo, 2009. "On the interaction between public investment and private capital in economic growth," UNIMI - Research Papers in Economics, Business, and Statistics unimi-1092, Universitá degli Studi di Milano.
    5. Bruno Decreuse & Paul Maarek, 2015. "FDI and the Labor Share in Developing Countries : A Theory and Some Evidence," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 119-120, pages 289-319.
    6. Luciano Fanti & Luca Gori, 2010. "Family Policies And The Optimal Population Growth Rate: Closed And Small Open Economies," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 96-123, February.
    7. Amrita Chhachhi & Kade Finnoff & Arjun Jayadev, 2014. "Rethinking Labour Market Policy: Alternative Manifestos," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(5), pages 1155-1171, September.
    8. Luciano BOGGIO & Vincenzo DALL’AGLIO & Marco MAGNANI, 2010. "On Labour Shares in Recent Decades: A Survey," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 118(3), pages 283-333.
    9. Luciano Fanti & Luca Gori, 2012. "PAYG Pensions and Economic Cycles," Public Finance Review, , vol. 40(2), pages 240-269, March.
    10. Elsa Orgiazzi & Paul Maarek, 2010. "Which factor bears the cost of currency crises?," 2010 Meeting Papers 810, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Pierre Bachas & Matthew Fisher-Post & Anders Jensen & Gabriel Zucman, 2022. "Globalization and Factor Income Taxation," Working Papers halshs-03693211, HAL.
    12. Vikas Kakkar & Isabel Yan, 2012. "Real Exchange Rates and Productivity: Evidence from Asia," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44, pages 301-322, March.
    13. Anders Isaksson, 2009. "The UNIDO World Productivity Database: An Overview," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 18, pages 38-50, Spring.
    14. Vega, Daniel & Abeles, Martín & Amarante, Verónica, 2014. "The earnings share of total income in Latin America, 1990-2010," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    15. Daniel Schäfer, 2024. "Development and Sector Labor Income Shares," Economics working papers 2024-05, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    16. Paul Maarek & Elsa Orgiazzi, 2013. "Currency Crises and the Labour Share," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 80(319), pages 566-588, July.
    17. Douglas Gollin, 2008. "Labour's Share of Income," Department of Economics Working Papers 2008-19, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    18. Paul Maarek & Elsa Orgiazzi, 2014. "Labor Share and development," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 201410, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS.
    19. Bekaert, Geert & Harvey, Campbell R. & Lundblad, Christian, 2011. "Financial Openness and Productivity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-19, January.
    20. Vikas Kakkar & Isabel Yan, 2012. "Real Exchange Rates and Productivity: Evidence from Asia," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(2‐3), pages 301-322, March.
    21. Fanti, Luciano & Gori, Luca, 2009. "Population and neoclassical economic growth: A new child policy perspective," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 27-30, July.
    22. Luciano Fanti, 2014. "Raising the Mandatory Retirement Age and its Effect on Long-run Income and Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) Pensions," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(4), pages 619-645, November.

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