This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Productivity Growth in Latin America during the Twentieth Century

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Pablo Astorga (Oxford Economic Forecasting)
Ame R. Bergés (Latin American Centre, University of Oxford)
Valpy Fitzgerald (Latin American Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford OX2 6JF)
Abstract

Analysis of new comparable series on output and employment between 1900 and 2000 for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela indicates that productivity growth was significantly higher and less volatile during the middle decades of the century than in the opening and closing decades. The first estimate of total factor productivity (TFP) growth for Latin America during the twentieth century as a whole, derived from the residuals of a skill-augmented production function, indicates that unembodied technical progress was low and that the accumulation of fixed and human capital accounted for almost all recorded economic progress. Sectoral disaggregation suggests that this factor accumulation was associated with increased levels of capital per worker during industrialization on the one hand; and with both out-migration from agriculture and the lagged consequences of a demographic transition on the other. The relatively low rates of human and physical capital accumulation in Latin America remain to be explained, although these are more likely to be associated with inadequate public provision of infrastructure and education than with the cycle of protection and liberalization as such.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/Economics/History/Paper52/52fitzgerald.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford in its series Oxford University Economic and Social History Series with number _052.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 40 pages
Date of creation: 01 Dec 2003
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_052

Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/economics/

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Maxine Collett).

Related research
Keywords: Aggregate Productivity and Growth; Agriculture; Manufacturing; Total Factor Productivity; Human Capital;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
O1 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
O4 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth
N5 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries
N6 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction

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. Syrquin, Moshe, 1988. "Patterns of structural change," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery† & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 203-273 Elsevier. [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. Pritchett, Lant, 1996. "Mind your P's and Q's : the cost of public investment is not the value of public capital," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1660, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Rudiger Dornbusch & Sebastian Edwards, 1991. "Macroeconomic Populism in Latin America," NBER Working Papers 2986, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Stanley Fischer, 1993. "The Role of Macroeconomic Factors in Growth," NBER Working Papers 4565, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Dornbusch, Rudiger & Edwards, Sebastian, 1989. "The macroeconomics of populism in Latin America," Policy Research Working Paper Series 316, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Romer, Paul, 1993. "Idea gaps and object gaps in economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 543-573, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Teitel, Simon & Thoumi, Francisco E, 1986. "From Import Substitution to Exports: The Manufacturing Exports Experience of Argentina and Brazil," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(3), pages 455-90, April.
  10. Paul M. Romer, 1989. "Human Capital And Growth: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 3173, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Abramovitz, Moses, 1986. "Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(02), pages 385-406, June. [Downloadable!]
  12. Martin, Will & Mitra, Devashish, 1999. "Productivity growth and convergence in agriculture and manufacturing," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2171, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  13. Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994. "Endogenous Innovation in the Theory of Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 23-44, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Romer, Paul M., 1990. "Human capital and growth: Theory and evidence," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 251-286, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Susan M. Collins & Barry P. Bosworth, 1996. "Economic Growth in East Asia: Accumulation versus Assimilation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 27(1996-2), pages 135-204. [Downloadable!]
  16. Robert J. Barro & Jong-Wha Lee, 2000. "International Data on Educational Attainment Updates and Implications," NBER Working Papers 7911, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Bruton, H.J., 1995. "Total Factor Productivity Growth," Center for Development Economics 139, Department of Economics, Williams College.
  18. Mauro, Paolo, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Young, Alwyn, 1994. "Lessons from the East Asian NICS: A contrarian view," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(3-4), pages 964-973, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Easterly, William & Loayza, Norman & Montiel, Peter, 1997. "Has Latin America's post-reform growth been disappointing?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3-4), pages 287-311, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  21. Dahlman, Carl J. & Ross-Larson, Bruce & Westphal, Larry E., 1987. "Managing technological development: Lessons from the newly industrializing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 759-775, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Mankiw, N Gregory & Romer, David & Weil, David N, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(2), pages 407-37, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  23. North, Douglass C, 1991. "Institutions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 97-112, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Young, Alwyn, 1995. "The Tyranny of Numbers: Confronting the Statistical Realities of the East Asian Growth Experience," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(3), pages 641-80, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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. Valpy FitzGerald, 2008. "Economic development and fluctuations in earnings inequality in the very long run: The evidence from Latin America 1900-2000," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(8), pages 1028-1048. [Downloadable!]
  2. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2005. "Growth, Inequality, And Poverty In Latin America: Historical Evidence, Controlled Conjectures," Working Papers in Economic History wh054104, Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de Historia Económica e Instituciones. [Downloadable!]
  3. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2007. "When Did Latin America Fall Behind?," NBER Chapters, in: The Decline of Latin American Economies: Growth, Institutions, and Crises, pages 15-58 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  4. Richard Steckel, 2005. "Fluctuations in a Dreadful Childhood: Synthetic longitudinal height data, relative prices, and weather in the short-term health of american slaves," Oxford University Economic and Social History Series _058, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Pablo Astorga, 2007. "Real Exchange Rates in Latin America: what does the 20th Century reveal?," Working Papers in Economic History wp07-03, Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de Historia Económica e Instituciones. [Downloadable!]
  6. Pablo Astorga, 2009. "A Century of Economic Growth in Latin America," Oxford University Economic and Social History Series _075, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
  7. Paul Segal, 2009. "Structural Change in Argentina, 1900-1973: The Role of Import Substitution and Factor Endowments," Economics Series Working Papers 437, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Jane Humphries, 2006. ""Because they are too menny..." Children, Mothers and Fertility Decline: The Evidence from Working-Class Autobiographies of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," Oxford University Economic and Social History Series _064, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
  9. Regina Grafe, 2004. "Popish Habits vs. Nutritional Need: Fasting and Fish Consumption in Iberia in the Early Modern Period," Oxford University Economic and Social History Series _055, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
  10. repec:nuf:esohwp:0558 is not listed on IDEAS
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? It is the publishers that input data about their publications, as there is no staff at RePEc.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-25.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.