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Total Factor Productivity Revisited: A Dual Approach to Development Accounting

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Author Info
Shekhar Aiyar (International Monetary Fund)
Carl-Johan Dalgaard (Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen)

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Abstract

This paper tackles a number of issues that are central to cross-country comparisons of productivity. We develop a “dual” method to compare levels of total factor productivity (TFP) across nations that relies on factor price data rather than the data on stocks of factors required by standard “primal” estimates. Consistent with the development accounting literature based on primal estimates, we find that TFP accounts for the bulk of differences in income per worker across countries. However, we also find that there are significant differences between TFP series calculated using the two different approaches. We trace the reason for this divergence to inconsistencies between the data on user costs of capital and physical stocks of capital. In addition, we establish that the standard Cobb-Douglas methodology of assuming a constant capital share of one-third for all countries is a very good approximation to a more general formulation under which countries have different aggregate production functions which do not require a constant elasticity of substitution between factors.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics in its series EPRU Working Paper Series with number 04-07.

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Length: 28 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2004
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Handle: RePEc:kud:epruwp:04-07

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Related research
Keywords: TFP; development accounting; dual approach; Cobb-Douglas hypothesis;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
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

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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. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 2002. "It's Not Factor Accumulation: Stylized Facts and Growth Models," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 164, Central Bank of Chile. [Downloadable!]
  2. Dale W. Jorgenson & Kevin J. Stiroh, 1999. "Information Technology and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 109-115, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why Do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output per Worker than Others?," NBER Working Papers 6564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Chang-Tai Hsieh, 1999. "Productivity Growth and Factor Prices in East Asia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 133-138, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Alwyn Young, 1992. "A Tale of Two Cities: Factor Accumulation and Technical Change in Hong Kong and Singapore," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1992, Volume 7, pages 13-64 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  6. Peter Klenow & Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, 1997. "The Neoclassical Revival in Growth Economics: Has It Gone Too Far?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1997, Volume 12, pages 73-114 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  7. Douglas Gollin, 2002. "Getting Income Shares Right," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(2), pages 458-474, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Islam, Nazrul, 1995. "Growth Empirics: A Panel Data Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(4), pages 1127-70, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1996. "The Productivity of Nations," NBER Working Papers 5812, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, 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. Shekhar Aiyar & Carl-Johan Dalgaard, 2008. "Accounting for Productivity: Is it OK to Assume that the World is Cobb-Douglas?," Discussion Papers 08-14, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Yasuyuki Todo, 2005. "Technology Adoption in Follower Countries: With or Without Local R&D Activities?," Topics in Macroeconomics, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 5(1), pages 1249-1249. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Francesco Caselli, 2005. "Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences," CEP Discussion Papers dp0667, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Nicolas Marceau & Steeve Mongrain & John D. Wilson, 2007. "Why Do Most Countries Set Higher Tax Rates on Capital?," Discussion Papers dp07-09, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Yasuyuki Todo & Satoshi Shimizutani, 2005. "Overseas R&D Activities by Multinational Enterprises: Evidence from Japanese Firm-Level Data," Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series d05-91, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
  6. Garbis Iradian, 2007. "Rapid Growth in Transition Economies: Growth-Accounting Approach," IMF Working Papers 07/164, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  7. Antonio G. Chessa & Marije C. Schouwstra, 2005. "Total Factor Productivity and the Mongolian Transition," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-087/2, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  8. Arnaud Dupuy, 2006. "Hicks Neutral Technical Change Revisited: CES Production Function and Information of General Order," Topics in Macroeconomics, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 6(2), pages 1339-1339. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Andrew Tiffin, 2006. "Ukraine: The Cost of Weak Institutions," IMF Working Papers 06/167, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  10. Massimo Del Gatto & Adriana Di Liberto & C. Petraglia, 2008. "Measuring Productivity," Working Paper CRENoS 200818, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia. [Downloadable!]
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