In this article we investigate the effect of product market regulation on the international diffusion of productivity shocks. The results indicate that regulations that restrict competition slow the process of adjustment through which best practice production techniques diffuse across borders and new technologies are incorporated into the production process. This effect is reflected in cross-country differences in ICT investment and speeds of catch up of sectoral productivity, which are significantly influenced by differences in product market regulation. Thus, persisting cross-country differences in product market regulation can partially explain the recent observed divergence of labour productivity in OECD countries, given the emergence of new general purpose technologies over the 1990s. In the case of Canada, the results suggest that remaining regulatory barriers to competition in a few key non-manufacturing sectors may have prevented the economy from benefiting to the full extent from high productivity growth rates in the United States and other productivity leaders.
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Find related papers by JEL classification: L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation O11 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development O14 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology O20 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - General O38 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Government Policy O47 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Measurement of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence O57 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
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.:
Alberto Alesina & Silvia Ardagna & Giuseppe Nicoletti & Fabio Schiantarelli, 2003.
"Regulation and Investment,"
NBER Working Papers
9560, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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