Advanced Search

The Sun Also Rises: Productivity Convergence Between Japan and the USA

Contents:

Author Info

  • Gavin Cameron

Abstract

The growth process for a technological leader is different from that of a follower. While followers can grow through imitation and capital deepening, a leader must undertake original research. This suggests that as the gap between the leader and the follower narrows, the follower must undertake more formal R&D and possibly face a slower overall growth rate. This paper constructs measures of relative total factor productivity for eleven Japanese manufacturing industries and uses dynamic panel data methods to test whether a smaller productivity gap leads to slower growth, and whether R&D takes over as the engine of growth as Japan approaches the technological frontier. The results suggest that Japanese and US productivity have been growing at similar rates since the mid-1970s, and that some of the Japanese growth slowdown is attributable to the exhaustion of imitation possibilities.

(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10887-005-4735-6
Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Springer in its journal Journal of Economic Growth.

Volume (Year): 10 (2005)
Issue (Month): 4 (December)
Pages: 387-408
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Handle: RePEc:kap:jecgro:v:10:y:2005:i:4:p:387-408

Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=102931

For corrections or technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Guenther Eichhorn) or (Christopher F. Baum).

Related research

Keywords: economic growth; total factor productivity; catch-up; innovation; heterogeneous dynamic panel data; scale effects; O47;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

References

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.:
  1. Marcus Noland & Bela Balassa, 1988. "Japan in the World Economy," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 0412, march.
  2. Broadberry, S N, 1994. "Technological Leadership and Productivity Leadership in Manufacturing since the Industrial Revolution: Implications for the Convergence Debate," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(423), pages 291-302, March.
  3. Bernard, A.B. & Jones, C.I., 1993. "Productivity Across Industries and Countries: Time Series Theory and Evidence," Working papers 93-17, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
  4. Aghion, P. & Howitt, P., 1990. "A Model Of Growth Through Creative Destruction," DELTA Working Papers 90-12, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
  5. Peter C.B. Phillips & Hyungsik R. Moon, 1999. "Linear Regression Limit Theory for Nonstationary Panel Data," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1222, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
  6. David Currie & Paul Levine & Joeseph Pearlman & Michael Chui, 1996. "Phases of Imitation and Innovation in a North-South Endogenous Growth Model," School of Economics Discussion Papers 9602, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
  7. Denny, Michael & Fuss, Melvyn, 1983. "The Use of Discrete Variables in Superlative Index Number Comparisons," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 24(2), pages 419-21, June.
  8. David, Paul A, 1985. "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 332-37, May.
  9. Bernard, Andrew B & Jones, Charles I, 1996. "Comparing Apples to Oranges: Productivity Convergence and Measurement across Industries and Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1216-38, December.
  10. Quah, Danny, 1996. "Twin Peaks: Growth and Convergence in Models of Distribution Dynamics," CEPR Discussion Papers 1355, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  11. G Cameron & J Proudman & Stephen Redding, 1999. "Productivity Growth, Convergence, and Trade in a Panel of Manufacturing Industries," CEP Discussion Papers dp0428, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  12. Robert J. Barro & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1995. "Technological Diffusion, Convergence, and Growth," NBER Working Papers 5151, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  13. Richard R. Nelson & Edmond S. Phelps, 1965. "Investment in Humans, Technological Diffusion and Economic Growth," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 189, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
  14. Pesaran, M.H. & Smith, R., 1992. "Estimating Long-Run Relationships From Dynamic Heterogeneous Panels," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 9215, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
  15. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-38, May.
  16. David N. Weil, 1996. "Appropriate Technology and Growth," Working Papers 96-24, Brown University, Department of Economics.
  17. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
  18. Redding, Stephen, 1999. "Dynamic Comparative Advantage and the Welfare Effects of Trade," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(1), pages 15-39, January.
  19. Quah, Danny, 1999. "Cross-Country Growth Comparison: Theory to Empirics," CEPR Discussion Papers 2294, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  20. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew Warner, 1995. "Economic Reform and the Process of Global Integration," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 1-118.
  21. Ben-David, D. & Lumsdaine, L.R. & Papell, D.H., 1996. "Unit Roots Postwar Slowdowns and Long-Run Growth: Evidence from Two Structural Breaks," Papers 33-96, Tel Aviv.
  22. Bernard, Andrew B & Jones, Charles I, 1996. "Technology and Convergence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 1037-44, July.
  23. Redding, S., 1995. "Is There a Penalty to being a Pioneer," Economics Papers 109, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
  24. Danny Quah, 1996. "Twin Peaks: Growth and Convergence in Models of Distribution Dynamics," CEP Discussion Papers dp0280, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  25. Brezis, Elise S & Krugman, Paul R & Tsiddon, Daniel, 1993. "Leapfrogging in International Competition: A Theory of Cycles in National Technological Leadership," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1211-19, December.
  26. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-26, November.
  27. Diewert, W. E., 1976. "Exact and superlative index numbers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 115-145, May.
  28. Anderson, T. W. & Hsiao, Cheng, 1982. "Formulation and estimation of dynamic models using panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 47-82, January.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
Cited by:
  1. Hildegunn Ekroll Stokke, 2008. "Multinational supermarket chains in developing countries: Does local agriculture benefit," Working Paper Series 9408, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
  2. Hildegunn Ekroll Stokke, 2005. "Productivity Growth in Backward Economies and the Role of Barriers to Technology Adoption," Working Paper Series 4905, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
  3. Yucan Liu & C. Richard Shumway & Robert Rosenman & V. Eldon Ball, 2008. "Productivity Growth and Convergence in U.S. Agriculture: New Cointegration Panel Data Results," Working Papers 2008-4, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
  4. Joern Rattsoe and Hildegunn Ekroll Stokke, 2009. "Wage inequality, comparative advantage and skill biased technical change in South Africa," Working Paper Series 9909, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
  5. Nicholas Apergis & Claire Economidou & Ioannis Filippidis, 2008. "Innovation, Technology Transfer and Labor Productivity Linkages: Evidence from a Panel of Manufacturing Industries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 491-508, October.
  6. Sterlacchini, Alessandro & Venturini, Francesco, 2011. "R&D and productivity in high-tech manufacturing: a comparison between Italy and Spain," MPRA Paper 30048, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  7. Torfinn Harding and Jørn Rattsø, 2009. "Looking Abroad, but Lagging Behind: How the World Technology Frontier Affects South Africa," Working Paper Series 10209, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
  8. Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn E. Stokke, 2009. "Trade barriers to growth in South Africa: Endogenous investment-productivity-trade interaction," DEGIT Conference Papers c014_010, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
  9. Tehmina S. Khan, 2006. "Productivity Growth, Technological Convergence, R&D, Trade, and Labor Markets: Evidence from the French Manufacturing Sector," IMF Working Papers 06/230, International Monetary Fund.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jecgro:v:10:y:2005:i:4:p:387-408

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Guenther Eichhorn) or (Christopher F. Baum).

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.