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Quality in work and aggregate productivity

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Author Info
Vicente Royuela () (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona)
Jordi Suriñach () (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona)

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Abstract

We explore the relationship between quality in work and aggregate productivity in regions and sectors. Using recent Spanish aggregate data for the period 2001-2006, we find that quality in work may be an important factor to explain productivity levels in sectors and regions. We use two alternatives definitions of quality in work: one from survey data and the other from a social indicators approach. We also use two different measurements of labour productivity to test the robustness of our results. The estimates are run using a simultaneous equation model for our panel of data, and find important differences between high tech and low tech sectors: a positive relationship between quality in work and productivity in the former case, and a negative relationship in the latter. Consequently, on the one hand we see that quality in work is not only an objective per se,but may also be a production factor able to increase the wealth of regions; on the other hand, at the aggregate level, we may also find that high productivity levels coincide with lower quality in work conditions.

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Paper provided by University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics in its series IREA Working Papers with number 200901.

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Length: 51 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2009
Date of revision: Jan 2009
Handle: RePEc:ira:wpaper:200901

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Related research
Keywords: Productivity; Quality in Work; Simultaneous; Equation Models.;

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