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Productivity Growth and Worker Reallocation: Theory and Evidence

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Author Info
Rasmus Lentz (Boston University)
Dale T. Mortensen (Northwestern University)

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Abstract

Dispersion in labor and factor productivity across firms is large and persistent, large flows of workers move across firms, and worker reallocation is an important source of productivity growth. The purpose of the paper is to provide a formal explanation for these observations that clarifies the role of worker reallocation as a source of productivity growth. Specifically, we study a modified version of the Schumpeterian model of growth induced by product innovation developed by Klette and Kortum (2002). More productive firms are those that supply higher quality products in the model. We show that more productive firms grow faster and the reallocation of workers across continuing firms contributes to aggregate productivity growth if and only if current productivity predicts future productivity. We provide evidence in support of the hypothesis that more productive firms become larger in Danish data. In addition, we provide estimates of the distribution of productivity at entry and the parameters of the cost of investment in innovation function and other structural parameters that all firms are assumed to face by fitting the model to observations on value added, employment, and wages drawn from a panel of Danish firms for the years 1992-1997.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics in its series CAM Working Papers with number 2004-12.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: Jul 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:kud:kuieca:2004_12

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  1. Jakob Klette & Samuel Kortum, 2002. "Innovating firms and aggregate innovation," Staff Report 300, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Javier Alvarez & Martin Browning & Mette Ejrnæs, 2001. "Modelling Income Processes with lots of heterogeneity," CAM Working Papers 2002-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics. [Downloadable!]
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  3. John Haltiwanger & C J Krizan & Lucia Foster, 1998. "Aggregate Productivity Growth: Lessons From Microeconomic Evidence," Working Papers 98-12, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Frederiksen, Anders & Westergaard-Nielsen, Niels, 2002. "Where did they go ?," CLS Working Papers 01-11, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Centre for Labour Market and Social Research. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Gourieroux, C & Monfort, A & Renault, E, 1993. "Indirect Inference," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(S), pages S85-118, Suppl. De. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Eric J. Bartelsman & Mark Doms, 2000. "Understanding Productivity: Lessons from Longitudinal Microdata," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 569-594, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Altonji, Joseph G & Segal, Lewis M, 1996. "Small-Sample Bias in GMM Estimation of Covariance Structures," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 14(3), pages 353-66, July.
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  8. Dunne, Timothy & Foster, Lucia & Haltiwanger, John & Troske, Kenneth R., 2002. "Wage and Productivity Dispersion in U.S. Manufacturing: The Role of Computer Investment," IZA Discussion Papers 563, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  9. Bruce C. Fallick & Charles A. Fleischman, 2001. "The importance of employer-to-employer flows in the U.S. labor market," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2001-18, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  10. Joel L. Horowitz, 1996. "Bootstrap Methods For Covariance Structures," Econometrics 9610003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  11. B.J. Christensen & D.T. Mortensen & G. Neumann & A. Werwatz, . "On the Job Search and the Wage Distribution," Sonderforschungsbereich 373 2000-108, Humboldt Universitaet Berlin.
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  12. Steven J. Davis & John C. Haltiwanger & Scott Schuh, 1998. "Job Creation and Destruction," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262540932.
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