IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/masddp/23698.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Information And Communication Technology And New Zealand'S Productivity Malaise: An Industry-Level Study

Author

Listed:
  • Engelbrecht, Hans-Jurgen
  • Xayavong, Vilaphonh

Abstract

This paper examines the link between information and communication technology (ICT) and New Zealand's labour productivity (LP) growth in 29 industries over the period 1988-2003, and over relevant sub-periods. After deriving an ICT intensity index in order to classify industries into 'more ICT intensive' and 'less ICT intensive', we compare LP growth rates for these two industry groupings. Further, we employ dummy variable regression models, including difference-in-difference models, to more formally test the relationship between ICT intensity and LP growth. The results prove to be sensitive to the time period specified. When breaks in the data series are taken into account, there seems to be support for the view that LP growth of more ICT intensive industries has improved over time relative to that of less ICT intensive industries, even though overall LP growth was weak. To put it differently, the restrained New Zealand LP performance apparent from our data seems to have been due mainly to the decline in LP growth of less ICT intensive industries. Our results illustrate that lack of overall productivity growth per se is not necessarily evidence against the beneficial productivity impacts of ICT. Rather, the proper comparison is that between the productivity performance of more ICT intensive versus less ICT intensive industries. However, our results can only be taken as suggestive, given the fact that ICT is but one of the determinants of LP, and given the many inherent measurement problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Engelbrecht, Hans-Jurgen & Xayavong, Vilaphonh, 2004. "Information And Communication Technology And New Zealand'S Productivity Malaise: An Industry-Level Study," Discussion Papers 23698, Massey University, Department of Applied and International Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:masddp:23698
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.23698
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/23698/files/dp040005.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.23698?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David, Paul A, 1990. "The Dynamo and the Computer: An Historical Perspective on the Modern Productivity Paradox," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 355-361, May.
    2. Susanto Basu & John G. Fernald & Nicholas Oulton & Sylaja Srinivasan, 2003. "The Case of the Missing Productivity Growth: Or, Does Information Technology Explain why Productivity Accelerated in the US but not the UK?," NBER Working Papers 10010, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. MartinNeil Baily & Robert Z. Lawrence, 2001. "Do We Have a New E-conomy?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 308-312, May.
    4. Oecd, 2003. "Seizing the Benefits of ICT in a Digital Economy," OECD Digital Economy Papers 72, OECD Publishing.
    5. Robert J. Gordon, 2000. "Does the "New Economy" Measure Up to the Great Inventions of the Past?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 49-74, Fall.
    6. Paul Schreyer, 2000. "The Contribution of Information and Communication Technology to Output Growth: A Study of the G7 Countries," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2000/2, OECD Publishing.
    7. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2002. "Information Technology and the U.S. Productivity Revival: What Do the Industry Data Say?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1559-1576, December.
    8. Erwin Diewert & Denis Lawrence, 1999. "Measuring New Zealand’s Productivity," Treasury Working Paper Series 99/05, New Zealand Treasury.
    9. repec:dgr:rugggd:200260 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Susanto Basu & John G. Fernald & Nicholas Oulton & Sylaja Srinivasan, 2004. "The Case of the Missing Productivity Growth, or Does Information Technology Explain Why Productivity Accelerated in the United States but Not in the United Kingdom?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2003, Volume 18, pages 9-82, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2002. "Are ICT Spillovers Driving the New Economy?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(1), pages 33-57, March.
    12. Peter Mawson, 2002. "Measuring Economic Growth in New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 02/14, New Zealand Treasury.
    13. Francesco Daveri, 2003. "Information Technology and Productivity Growth Across Countries and Sectors," Working Papers 227, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    14. Ark, Bart van & Inklaar, Robert & McGuckin, Robert, 2002. ""Changing gear" : productivity, ICT and services: Europe and the United States," GGDC Research Memorandum 200260, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    15. International Monetary Fund, 2003. "New Zealand: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2003/122, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Stefano Scarpetta & Andrea Bassanini & Dirk Pilat & Paul Schreyer, 2000. "Economic Growth in the OECD Area: Recent Trends at the Aggregate and Sectoral Level," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 248, OECD Publishing.
    17. Matthew D Shapiro, 2003. "Has the rate of economic growth changed? Evidence and lessons for public policy," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper Series DP2003/07, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
    18. Alvey, James E., 2003. "Adam Smith'S Optimistic Teleological View Of History," Discussion Papers 23708, Massey University, Department of Applied and International Economics.
    19. Bart Van Ark, 2002. "Measuring The New Economy: An International Comparative Perspective," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(1), pages 1-14, March.
    20. W A Razzak, 2004. "Towards Building A New Consensus About New Zealand’s Productivity," GE, Growth, Math methods 0405002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Melleny Black & Melody Guy & Nathan McLellan, 2003. "Productivity in New Zealand 1988 to 2002," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 119-150.
    22. Bart van Ark & Robert Inklaar & Robert H. McGuckin, 2002. "'Changing Gear' - Productivity, ICT and Services Industries: Europe and the United States," Economics Program Working Papers 02-02, The Conference Board, Economics Program.
    23. Bart Van Ark, 2002. "Measuring The New Economy: An International Comparative Perspective," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(1), pages 1-14, March.
    24. Bar-Shira, Ziv & Finkelshtain, Israel & Simhon, Avi, 2003. "Cross-Country Productivity Comparisons: The "Revealed Superiority" Approach," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 301-323, September.
    25. N/A, 2004. "Index for 2004," European Union Politics, , vol. 5(4), pages 511-512, December.
    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. Engelbrecht, Hans-Jurgen & Xayavong, Vilaphonh, 2006. "ICT intensity and New Zealand's productivity malaise: Is the glass half empty or half full?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 24-42, March.
    2. Sid Durbin, 2004. "Review of Workplace Skills, Technology Adoption and Firm Productivity: A Review," Treasury Working Paper Series 04/16, New Zealand Treasury.

    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. Engelbrecht, Hans-Jurgen & Xayavong, Vilaphonh, 2006. "ICT intensity and New Zealand's productivity malaise: Is the glass half empty or half full?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 24-42, March.
    2. Francesco Daveri, 2002. "The New Economy in Europe, 1992--2001," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 18(3), pages 345-362.
    3. Harald Edquist & Magnus Henrekson, 2006. "Technological Breakthroughs and Productivity Growth," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, pages 1-53, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    4. Oliner, Stephen D. & Sichel, Daniel E. & Stiroh, Kevin J., 2008. "Explaining a productive decade," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 633-673.
    5. Oulton, Nicholas, 2012. "Long term implications of the ICT revolution: Applying the lessons of growth theory and growth accounting," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 1722-1736.
    6. Vijselaar, Focco & Backé, Peter, 2002. "New technologies and productivity growth in the euro area," Working Paper Series 122, European Central Bank.
    7. Edquist, Harald & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Do R&D and ICT affect total factor productivity growth differently?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 106-119.
    8. Albers, Ronald & Vijselaar, Focco, 2002. "New technologies and productivity growth in the euro area," Working Paper Series 0122, European Central Bank.
    9. Dale W. Jorgenson & Mun S. Ho & Kevin J. Stiroh, 2008. "A Retrospective Look at the U.S. Productivity Growth Resurgence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 3-24, Winter.
    10. Ark, Bart van, 2002. "ICT investments and growth accounts for the European Union," GGDC Research Memorandum 200256, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    11. repec:dgr:rugggd:200363 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. repec:dgr:rugggd:200256 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Gunnarsson, Gudmundur & Mellander, Erik & Savvidou, Eleni, 2004. "Human capital is the key to the IT productivity paradox," Working Paper Series 2004:13, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    14. Mirko Draca & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2006. "Productivity and ICT: A Review of the Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0749, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    15. Timmer, Marcel P. & Ypma, Gerard & Ark, Bart van der, 2003. "IT in the European Union: driving productivity divergence?," GGDC Research Memorandum 200363, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    16. Tai-Yoo Kim & Jihyoun Park & Eungdo Kim & Junseok Hwang, 2011. "The Faster-Accelerating Digital Economy," TEMEP Discussion Papers 201173, Seoul National University; Technology Management, Economics, and Policy Program (TEMEP), revised Apr 2011.
    17. Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2012. "The Transatlantic Productivity Gap: A Survey Of The Main Causes," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 395-419, July.
    18. Hannes Leo, 2001. "ICT Investment and Growth of Output and Productivity," WIFO Working Papers 162, WIFO.
    19. Ilmakunnas, Pekka & Miyakoshi, Tatsuyoshi, 2013. "What are the drivers of TFP in the Aging Economy? Aging labor and ICT capital," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 201-211.
    20. Francesco Venturini, 2009. "The long-run impact of ICT," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 497-515, December.
    21. Agnieszka Gehringer & Inmaculada Martinez-Zarzoso & Felicitas Nowak.Lehmann Danziger, 2013. "The Determinants of Total Factor Productivity in the EU: Insights from Sectoral Data and Common Dynamic Processes," EcoMod2013 5343, EcoMod.
    22. Klodt, Henning, 2001. "Die neue Ökonomie: Aufbruch und Umbruch," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 2575, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Productivity Analysis;

    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:ags:masddp:23698. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/samasnz.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.