IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/egr/ejge00/v5i2p82-103.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Productivity in Europe during the Great Recession: Any evidence for creative destruction?

Author

Listed:
  • Gonzalo Paz Pardo

    (University College London)

Abstract

This article analyses the effects of the financial crisis and the Great Recession on productivity in Europe by studying the process of labour force reallocation between companies. Using micro-data on company balance sheets, a fixed-effects panel estimation of the predictors of the post-crisis evolution of the number of employees for a given company is used. Identification is achieved through the use of pre-crisis values of covariates. The results are in line with the theoretical predictions derived from Schumpeterian (“creative destruction”) endogenous growth models. Pre-crisis productivity is a predictor of a higher number of employees, which means creative destruction is taking place to some extent. Companies in financially dependent sectors perform worse in the context of the financial crisis. Indebtedness has an uneven effect: positive for large companies and negative for smaller ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Gonzalo Paz Pardo, 2016. "Productivity in Europe during the Great Recession: Any evidence for creative destruction?," European Journal of Government and Economics, Europa Grande, vol. 5(2), pages 82-103, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:egr:ejge00:v:5:i:2:p:82-103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ejge.org/index.php/ejge/article/download/84/65
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philippe Aghion & Diego Comin & Peter Howitt & Isabel Tecu, 2016. "When Does Domestic Savings Matter for Economic Growth?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 64(3), pages 381-407, August.
    2. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    3. Halmai Peter & Vasary Viktoria, 2009. "Economic Growth and Convergence in the European Union," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1, pages 171-188, May.
    4. Ricardo J. Caballero & Mohamad L. Hammour, 2005. "The Cost of Recessions Revisited: A Reverse-Liquidationist View," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(2), pages 313-341.
    5. Carneiro, Anabela & Portugal, Pedro & Varejão, José, 2014. "Catastrophic job Destruction during the Portuguese Economic Crisis," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PB), pages 444-457.
    6. Kroszner, Randall S. & Laeven, Luc & Klingebiel, Daniela, 2007. "Banking crises, financial dependence, and growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 187-228, April.
    7. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    8. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt, 2009. "The Economics of Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262012634, December.
    9. Blalock, Garrick & Gertler, Paul J. & Levine, David I., 2008. "Financial constraints on investment in an emerging market crisis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 568-591, April.
    10. Aghion, Philippe & Akcigit, Ufuk & Howitt, Peter, 2014. "What Do We Learn From Schumpeterian Growth Theory?," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 515-563, Elsevier.
    11. Barlevy, Gadi, 2003. "Credit market frictions and the allocation of resources over the business cycle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(8), pages 1795-1818, November.
    12. Caballero, Ricardo J & Hammour, Mohamad L, 1994. "The Cleansing Effect of Recessions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1350-1368, December.
    13. Gadi Barlevy, 2002. "The Sullying Effect of Recessions," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(1), pages 65-96.
    14. Aghion, Philippe & Saint-Paul, Gilles, 1998. "VIRTUES OF BAD TIMES Interaction Between Productivity Growth and Economic Fluctuations," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 322-344, September.
    15. Olivier Blanchard, 2004. "The Economic Future of Europe," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 3-26, Fall.
    16. Steven J. Davis & John Haltiwanger, 1992. "Gross Job Creation, Gross Job Destruction, and Employment Reallocation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 819-863.
    17. -, 2009. "Economic growth in the Caribbean," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 38668, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    18. Nickell, Stephen & Wadhwani, Sushil & Wall, Martin, 1992. "Productivity growth in U.K. companies, 1975-1986," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1055-1085, June.
    19. Kleemann, Michael & Wiegand, Manuel, 2013. "The causal effect of restrictive bank lending on employment growth: A matching approach," MPRA Paper 43529, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Johan Karlsson, 2024. "To Be or Not to Be: The Entrepreneur in Neo-Schumpeterian Growth Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 104-140, January.
    2. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan & Karlsson, Johan, 2021. "To Be or Not to Be: The Entrepreneur in Endogenous Growth Theory," Working Papers 2021:3, Örebro University, School of Business.
    3. Christian Abele & Agnès Bénassy-Quéré & Lionel Fontagné, 2020. "One Size Does Not Fit All: TFP in the Aftermath of Financial Crises in Three European Countries," PSE Working Papers halshs-02883685, HAL.

    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. Carlos Carreira & Paulino Teixeira, 2016. "Entry and exit in severe recessions: lessons from the 2008–2013 Portuguese economic crisis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 591-617, April.
    2. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt & Susanne Prantl, 2015. "Patent rights, product market reforms, and innovation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 223-262, September.
    3. Ouyang, Min, 2009. "The scarring effect of recessions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 184-199, March.
    4. Christian Abele & Agnès Bénassy-Quéré & Lionel Fontagné, 2020. "One Size Does Not Fit All: TFP in the Aftermath of Financial Crises in Three European Countries," PSE Working Papers halshs-02883685, HAL.
    5. Carlos Carreira & Paulino Teixeira, 2016. "Entry and exit in severe recessions: lessons from the 2008–2013 Portuguese economic crisis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 591-617, April.
    6. Ufuk Akcigit & Sina T. Ates & Giammario Impullitti, 2018. "Innovation and Trade Policy in a Globalized World," NBER Working Papers 24543, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Philippe Aghion & Antonin Bergeaud & Matthieu Lequien & Marc J. Melitz, 2018. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Market Size on Innovation: Evidence from French Firm-Level Exports," NBER Working Papers 24600, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Lucia Foster & Cheryl Grim & John Haltiwanger, 2016. "Reallocation in the Great Recession: Cleansing or Not?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S1), pages 293-331.
    9. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Johan Karlsson, 2024. "To Be or Not to Be: The Entrepreneur in Neo-Schumpeterian Growth Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 104-140, January.
    10. Carlos Carreira & Paulino Teixeira, 2008. "Internal and external restructuring over the cycle: a firm-based analysis of gross flows and productivity growth in Portugal," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 211-220, June.
    11. Bryce Campodonico, Luis A. & Bonfatti, Roberto & Pisano, Luigi, 2016. "Tax policy and the financing of innovation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 32-46.
    12. Alberto BUCCI & Vladimir MATVEENKO, 2015. "Horizontal Differentiation and Economic Growth under Non–Homotheticity," Departmental Working Papers 2015-24, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    13. Howes, Cooper, 2022. "Why does structural change accelerate in recessions? The credit reallocation channel," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 933-952.
    14. Kais Mtar & Walid Belazreg, 2021. "Causal Nexus Between Innovation, Financial Development, and Economic Growth: the Case of OECD Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(1), pages 310-341, March.
    15. Carlos Casacuberta & Néstor Gandelman, 2015. "Productivity, Exit, and Crisis in the Manufacturing and Service Sectors," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 53(1), pages 27-43, March.
    16. Kumar, Sanjesh & Singh, Baljeet, 2019. "Barriers to the international diffusion of technological innovations," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 74-86.
    17. Antonin Bergeaud & Gilbert Cette & Rémy Lecat, 2014. "Le produit intérieur brut par habitant sur longue période en France et dans les pays avancés : le rôle de la productivité et de l’emploi," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 474(1), pages 5-34.
    18. Cristina Fernández & Roberta García & Paloma Lopez-Garcia & Benedicta Marzinotto & Roberta Serafini & Juuso Vanhala & Ladislav Wintr, 2017. "Firm growth in Europe: An overview based on the COMPNET labour module," BCL working papers 107, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    19. Aghion, Philippe & Akcigit, Ufuk & Howitt, Peter, 2014. "What Do We Learn From Schumpeterian Growth Theory?," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 515-563, Elsevier.
    20. Ashraf, Quamrul & Gershman, Boris & Howitt, Peter, 2017. "Banks, market organization, and macroeconomic performance: An agent-based computational analysis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 143-180.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    productivity; business cycles; financial constraints; indebtedness; company performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

    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:egr:ejge00:v:5:i:2:p:82-103. 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: Europa Grande (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.