IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mnh/vpaper/1056.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The role of production organization, infrastructure, and R & D in the catching-up process of Japanese to German industries

Author

Listed:
  • Conrad, Klaus
  • Wastl, Dieter

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical study of productivity comparison between Japan and Germany with focus on the R&D and infrastructure. By using time-series datasets from auto vehicle industry and electronic engineering industry, the study shows the reversal of productivity advantage from Germany to Japan around 1980. We argue that Japanese productivity gains are from better infrastructure and cost-reducing innovations such as lean production methods. An econometric model determines the causes for the observed differences in the quantities of inputs used. It shows that frequent external procurement among Japanese manufactures has shifted the factor inputs from labor and capital to material, a result which is in line with the philosophy of lean production.

Suggested Citation

  • Conrad, Klaus & Wastl, Dieter, 1996. "The role of production organization, infrastructure, and R & D in the catching-up process of Japanese to German industries," Discussion Papers 541, Institut fuer Volkswirtschaftslehre und Statistik, Abteilung fuer Volkswirtschaftslehre.
    • Handle: RePEc:mnh:vpaper:1056
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://madoc.bib.uni-mannheim.de/1056/1/541.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Ford & Pierre Poret, 1991. "Infrastructure and Private-Sector Productivity," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 91, OECD Publishing.
    2. Aschauer, David Alan, 1989. "Is public expenditure productive?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-200, March.
    3. Denny, Michael & Fuss, Melvyn, 1983. "The Use of Discrete Variables in Superlative Index Number Comparisons," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 24(2), pages 419-421, June.
    4. M. Denny & M. Fuss & J. D. May, 1981. "Intertemporal Changes in Regional Productivity in Canadian Manufacturing," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 14(3), pages 390-408, August.
    5. Conrad, Klaus, 1989. "Productivity and cost gaps in manufacturing industries in U.S., Japan and Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1135-1159, July.
    6. Jorgenson, Dale W & Nishimizu, Mieko, 1978. "U.S. and Japanese Economic Growth, 1952-1974: An International Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 88(352), pages 707-726, December.
    7. Diewert, W. E., 1976. "Exact and superlative index numbers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 115-145, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Georg Erber, 1994. "Technical Change, Economies of Scale, and Factor Augmentation: Impacts on Relative Differences in Productivity and Price Competitiveness between U.S. and German Industries," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 93, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Mr. Frederick L Joutz & Mr. Yasser Abdih, 2008. "The Impact of Public Capital, Human Capital, and Knowledge on Aggregate Output," IMF Working Papers 2008/218, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Conrad, Klaus & Seitz, Helmut, 1997. "Infrastructure provision and international market share rivalry," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 715-734, November.
    4. Melvyn A. Fuss & Leonard Waverman, 1985. "Productivity Growth in the Automobile Industry, 1970-1980: A Comparisonof Canada, Japan and the United States," NBER Working Papers 1735, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Marie-Ange Véganzonès-Varoudakis & Arup Mitra & Chandan Sharma, 2012. "Are Reforms Productive? Explaining Productivity and Efficiency in the Indian Manufacturing," Post-Print hal-03058727, HAL.
    6. Mamatzakis, E. C., 2003. "Public infrastructure and productivity growth in Greek agriculture," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 169-180, October.
    7. Torstein Bye & Alexandra Katz, 1995. "Returns to Publicly Owned Transport Infrastructure Investment . A Cost Function/Cost Share Approach for Norway, 1971-1991," Discussion Papers 154, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    8. Charles R. Hulten & Robert M. Schwab, 1993. "Endogenous Growth, Public Capital, and the Convergence of Regional Manufacturing Industries," NBER Working Papers 4538, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. William F. Fox & Sanela Porca, 2001. "Investing in Rural Infrastructure," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 24(1), pages 103-133, January.
    10. Ward Romp & Jakob De Haan, 2007. "Public Capital and Economic Growth: A Critical Survey," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(S1), pages 6-52, April.
    11. Joanna Mackiewicz-Łyziak, 2010. "Wpływ infrastruktury na produktywność w gospodarce Polski," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 41-61.
    12. van Tuijl, Martin A. & de Groof, Robert J. & Kolnaar, Ad H. J., 1997. "Fiscal policy and public capital in interdependent economics," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 279-300, April.
    13. Charles R. Hulten, 2000. "Total Factor Productivity: A Short Biography," NBER Working Papers 7471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Pellervo Hamalainen, 2009. "Review of literature on the productivity of public capital," Discussion Papers 55, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    15. Everaert, Gerdie & Heylen, Freddy, 2001. "Public capital and productivity growth: evidence for Belgium, 1953-1996," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 97-116, January.
    16. Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2012. "Productivity Convergence Across Industries and Countries: The Importance of Theory-based Measurement," Chapters, in: Matilde Mas & Robert Stehrer (ed.), Industrial Productivity in Europe, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Sturm, Jan Egbert & de Haan, Jakob, 1995. "Is public expenditure really productive?: New evidence for the USA and The Netherlands," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 60-72, January.
    18. Nigel Spence & Antonis Rovolis, 2002. "Duality theory and cost function analysis in a regional context: the impact of public infrastructure capital in the Greek regions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 36(1), pages 55-78.
    19. Wulong Gu & Beiling Yan, 2017. "Productivity Growth and International Competitiveness," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63, pages 113-133, February.
    20. M. Ishaq Nadiri & Theofanis P. Mamuneas, 1994. "Infrastructure and Public R&D Investments, and the Growth of Factor Productivity in US Manufacturing Industries," NBER Working Papers 4845, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • L6 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mnh:vpaper:1056. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Katharina Rautenberg (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ivmande.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.