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Why Plant-Level Productivity Studies are Often Misleading, and an Alternative Approach to Interference

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Author Info
Haijime Katayama
Shihua Lu
James Tybout

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Abstract

Applied economists often wish to measure the effects of managerial decisions or policy changes on plant-level productivity patterns. But plant-level data on physical quantities of output, capital, and intermediate inputs are usually unavailable. Therefore, when constructing productivity measures, most analysts proxy these variables with real sales revenues, depreciated capital spending, and real input expenditures. The first part of this paper argues that the resultant productivity indices have little to do with technical efficiency, product quality, or contributions to social welfare. Nonetheless, they are likely to be correlated with policy shocks and managerial decisions in misleading ways. The second part of the paper develops an alternative approach to inference. Using Steven Berry's (1994, RAND Journal) representation of equilibrium in a differentiated product market, we show how to impute each plant's unobserved marginal costs and product quality from its observed revenues and costs, and how to use this mapping to calculate plant-specific welfare-based performance measures. (Bayesian estimation techniques are required because the vector of unknown parameters is under-identified.) The final part of the paper demonstrates our methodology using panel data on Colombian pulp and paper plants.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 9617.

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Date of creation: Apr 2003
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9617

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L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
O3 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change

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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.:
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    Other versions:
  3. Jacques Mairesse & Mohamed Sassenou, 1991. "R&D Productivity: A Survey of Econometric Studies at the Firm Level," NBER Working Papers 3666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  5. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Marc Rysman, 2002. "Unobserved Product Differentiation in Discrete Choice Models: Estimating Price Elasticities and Welfare Effects," NBER Working Papers 8798, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. G. Steven Olley & Ariel Pakes, 1992. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," NBER Working Papers 3977, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-97, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Ariel Pakes & Paul McGuire, 1994. "Computing Markov-Perfect Nash Equilibria: Numerical Implications of a Dynamic Differentiated Product Model," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(4), pages 555-589, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Aw, Bee Yan & Chen, Xiaomin & Roberts, Mark J., 2001. "Firm-level evidence on productivity differentials and turnover in Taiwanese manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 51-86, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Tybout, James R. & Westbrook, M. Daniel, 1995. "Trade liberalization and the dimensions of efficiency change in Mexican manufacturing industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1-2), pages 53-78, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Vernon Henderson, 2001. "Marshall's Scale Economies," Working Papers 01-17, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
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  20. Blomstrom, Magnus & Kokko, Ari, 1997. "How foreign investment affects host countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1745, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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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. Peter K. Schott & Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding, 2005. "Products and Productivity," NBER Working Papers 11575, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Chiara Criscuolo & Ralf Martin, 2005. "Multinationals and US Productivity Leadership: Evidence from Great Britain," CEP Discussion Papers dp0672, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Jozef Konings & Hylke Vandenbussche, 2007. "Antidumping Protection and Productivity of Domestic Firms: A firm level analysis," LICOS Discussion Papers 19607, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Carlo Altomonte & Enrico Pennings, 2005. "Testing for Marginal Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-101/4, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  5. Lucia Foster & John Haltiwanger & Chad Syverson, 2005. "Reallocation, Firm Turnover, and Efficiency: Selection on Productivity or Profitability?," Working Papers 05-11, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Jan De Loecker, 2004. "Do Exports Generate Higher Productivity? Evidence from Slovenia," LICOS Discussion Papers 15104, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Marian Rizov & Patrick Paul Walsh, 2005. "Linking Productivity to Trade in the Structural Estimation of Production within UK Manufacturing Industries," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp98, IIIS. [Downloadable!]
  8. Fernandes, Ana M. & Isgut, Alberto E., 2005. "Learning-by-doing, learning-by-exporting, and productivity : evidence from Colombia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3544, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Jesus Felipe & Rana Hasan & J. S. L. McCombie, 2004. "Correcting For Biases When Estimating Production Functions: An Illusion Of The Laws Of Algebra?," CAMA Working Papers 2004-13, Australian National University, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Erkan Erdem & James Tybout, 2003. "Trade Policy and Industrial Sector Responses: Using Evolutionary Models to Interpret the Evidence," NBER Working Papers 9947, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Ralf Martin, 2005. "Productivity Dispersion, Competition and Productivity Measurement," CEP Discussion Papers dp0692, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  12. Michiel Van Dijk & Adam Szirmai, 2005. "Catch Up at the Micro-Level: Evidence from an Industry Case Study Using Manufacturing Census Data," DEGIT Conference Papers c010_038, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade. [Downloadable!]
  13. Fernandes, Ana Margarida, 2006. "Firm Productivity in Bangladesh Manufacturing Industries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3988, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Yuriy Gorodnichenko, 2007. "Using Firm Optimization to Evaluate and Estimate Returns to Scale," NBER Working Papers 13666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Szirmai, Adam & Van Dijk, Michiel, 2007. "The Micro-Dynamics of Catch Up in Indonesian Paper Manufacturing: An International Comparison of Plant-Level Performance," UNU-MERIT Working Paper Series 010, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology. [Downloadable!]
  16. Alessandra Tucci, 2005. "Trade, Foreign Networks and Performance: a Firm-Level Analysis for India," Development Working Papers 199, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano. [Downloadable!]
  17. 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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