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Convergence of Firm-Level Productivity, Globalisation, Information Technology and Competition: Evidence from France

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Author Info
Paul-Antoine Chevalier
Rémy Lecat
Nicholas Oulton

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Abstract

Studies of firm-level data have shown that there is a huge dispersion of productivity across firms evenwhen industries are narrowly defined. So there is a significant opportunity for the least productivefirms to catch up to the most productive. The formers' convergence could therefore constitute animportant part of productivity growth at the macroeconomic level. This article sheds light on thisconvergence process in the 1990s and the 2000s in France and on some of the factors which canexplain it. Productivity convergence was stronger for labour productivity than for total factorproductivity. But most importantly the speed of convergence has slowed during the course of the1990s, a fact which is explained principally by the acceleration of the productivity of firms on thetechnological frontier. Three possible explanations of these stylised facts are considered:globalisation, information technology, and competition. Globalisation and information technologymay have benefited the most productive firms more and the growth of competition may at the sametime have stimulated the productivity of firms at the frontier while discouraging the convergence ofthe least productive firms.

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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number dp0916.

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Date of creation: Mar 2009
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Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0916

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Related research
Keywords: Convergence; productivity; TFP; globalisation; ICT; competition;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Capital and Total Factor Productivity; Capacity
D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - General
F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
O33 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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  6. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," NBER Working Papers 3120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Nickell, Stephen & Nicolitsas, Daphne & Dryden, Neil, 1997. "What makes firms perform well?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 783-796, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Oulton, Nicholas, 1998. "Competition and the Dispersion of Labour Productivity amongst UK Companies," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(1), pages 23-38, January.
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  9. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: An Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728, May.
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  10. Baldwin, John R. & Gu, Wulong, 2003. "Participation in Export Markets and Productivity Performance in Canadian Manufacturing," Economic Analysis (EA) Research Paper Series 2003011e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
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