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Contracting Productivity Growth

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Author Info
Patrick Francois (Tilburg University and University of British Columbia)
Joanne Roberts (University of Toronto)

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Abstract

This paper analyses the interactions between growth and the contracting environment in production. With incompleteness in contracting, viable production relationships between firms and workers, and therefore the profitability of industries, depend on the rates of innovation and growth. The speed at which new innovations arrive in turn depends on the profitability of production, for the usual reasons examined in the endogenous growth literature. We show that these interactions can have important implications which are consistent with observed phenomena in both the micro and macro environments. In particular, we demonstrate that a technological shock (increasing productivity of research) can, through this interaction, lead to a productivity slowdown and a shift in labour market contracts away from firms providing implicit guarantees of lifetime employment and towards shorter--term "contractor" type arrangements. We show the consistency of an increase in the proportion of the labour force under short--term employment, increased relative returns of workers in high--productivity sectors, and increased income inequality, with a productivity slowdown of finite duration. Copyright The Review of Economic Studies Limited 2003

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Blackwell Publishing in its journal The Review of Economic Studies.

Volume (Year): 70 (2003)
Issue (Month): 1 (January)
Pages: 59-85
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Handle: RePEc:bla:restud:v:70:y:2003:i:1:p:59-85

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Olaf Posch & Klaus Wälde, 2006. "Natural volatility, welfare and taxation," Working Papers 2007_33, Department of Economics, University of Glasgow. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2002. "Vertical Integration and Distance to Frontier," NBER Working Papers 9191, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Ottaviano, Gianmarco I P, 2007. "Contract Enforcement, Comparative Advantage and Long-Run Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 6419, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. MARTIMORT, David & VERDIER, Thierry, 2003. "The Agency Cost of Internal Collusion and Schumpeterian Growth," IDEI Working Papers 170, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Patrick Francois & Huw Lloyd-Ellis, 2004. "Investment Cycles," Macroeconomics 0405005, EconWPA, revised 05 May 2004. [Downloadable!]
  6. Francois, P. & Lloyd-Ellis, H., 2003. "Co-movement, capital and contracts: 'normal' cycles through creative destruction," Discussion Paper 62, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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