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Structural breaks in labor productivity growth: the United States vs. the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Juan F. Jimeno

    (Banco de España
    Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
    Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA))

  • Esther Moral

    (Banco de España)

  • Lorena Saiz

    (Banco de España)

Abstract

There is a stark contrast between the recent evolution of labor productivity (and TFP) in the US and EU countries. In the US it accelerated around the mid-1990s and there is evidence of reversion to a high-growth regime. In some EU countries, while employment-population ratios started to rise after a period of stagnant employment, labor productivity (and TFP) decelerated. In this paper we apply univariate and multivariate methods, that have been used to detect structural breaks in productivity growth in the US economy, to EU data to confirm the existence of a significant permanent shift to lower productivity growth in some European countries around the mid-1990s. We find a structural break in mean labour productivity growth in the US around the mid-1990s (towards higher growth), in Continental Europe around the early 1990s (towards lower growth) and no evidence of structural breaks in the UK.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan F. Jimeno & Esther Moral & Lorena Saiz, 2006. "Structural breaks in labor productivity growth: the United States vs. the European Union," Working Papers 0625, Banco de España.
    • Handle: RePEc:bde:wpaper:0625
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Catherine Bruneau & Pierre-Luis Girard, 2021. "Labor Productivity in France: Is the Slowdown of its Growth Inevitable or are there Levers to fight it?," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 7(1), pages 9-40, January.
    2. Philip Vermeulen & Daniel A. Dias & Maarten Dossche & Erwan Gautier & Ignacio Hernando & Roberto Sabbatini & Harald Stahl, 2012. "Price Setting in the Euro Area: Some Stylized Facts from Individual Producer Price Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(8), pages 1631-1650, December.
    3. Steven Cassou & Emanuel Xavier de Oliveira, 2011. "Barriers to technological adoption in Spain and Portugal," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 10(3), pages 189-209, December.
    4. Aamer S. Abu-Qarn & Suleiman Abu-Bader, 2009. "Getting Income Shares Right," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 23(3), pages 254-266, August.
    5. Kujal Praveen & Ruiz Juan M., 2007. "Cost Effectiveness of R&D and Strategic Trade Policy," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-35, April.
    6. Antipa, P., 2008. "Productivity decomposition and sectoral dynamics," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 11, pages 51-64, Spring.
    7. Mario Izquierdo & Juan Jimeno & Juan Rojas, 2010. "On the aggregate effects of immigration in Spain," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 409-432, September.
    8. Luis J. Álvarez & Ignacio Hernando, 2006. "Competition and price adjustment in the euro area," Working Papers 0629, Banco de España.
    9. Alexander Murray, 2017. "What Explains the Post-2004 U.S.Productivity Slowdown?," CSLS Research Reports 2017-05, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    10. Aamer Abu-Qarn & Suleiman Abu-Bader, 2007. "Getting Income Shares Right: A Panel Data Investigation for OECD Countries," Working Papers 0701, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    11. Ricardo Gimeno & Juan M. Nave, 2006. "Genetic algorithm estimation of interest rate term structure," Working Papers 0634, Banco de España.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    structural breaks; labor productivity; markov switching models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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