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Do high-quality local institutions shape labour productivity in Western European manufacturing firms?

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  • Ganau, Roberto
  • Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés

Abstract

We investigate the extent to which regional institutional quality shapes firm labour productivity in Western Europe, using a sample of manufacturing firms from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, observed over the period 2009–2014. The results indicate that regional institutional quality positively affects firms' labour productivity and that government effectiveness is the most important institutional determinant of productivity levels. However, how institutions shape labour productivity depends on the type of firm considered. Smaller, less capital endowed and high-tech sectors are three of the types of firms whose productivity is most favourably affected by good and effective institutions at the regional level.

Suggested Citation

  • Ganau, Roberto & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2019. "Do high-quality local institutions shape labour productivity in Western European manufacturing firms?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100416, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:100416
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    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/100416/
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    1. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose & Roberto Ganau & Kristina Maslauskaite & Monica Brezzi, 2021. "Credit constraints, labor productivity, and the role of regional institutions: Evidence from manufacturing firms in Europe," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 299-328, March.
    2. Joan Crespo & Jesús Peiró-Palomino & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2020. "Does university performance have an economic payoff for their home regions? Evidence for the Spanish provinces," Working Papers 2020/20, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    3. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2020. "Institutions and the fortunes of territories," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 371-386, June.
    4. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Zhang, Min, 2020. "The cost of weak institutions for innovation in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    5. Roberto Ganau & Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2023. "Firm‐level productivity growth returns of social capital: Evidence from Western Europe," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 529-551, June.
    6. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Roberto Ganau, 2022. "Institutions and the productivity challenge for European regions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 1-25.
    7. Marco Di Cataldo & Elena Renzullo & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2025. "Cohesion or collusion? EU funds in places with corrupt local institutions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2510, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised May 2025.
    8. Roberto Ganau & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2022. "Credit constraints in European SMEs: does regional institutional quality matter?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(15), pages 1388-1392, September.
    9. Fabio Manca & Giuseppe Piroli, 2021. "Technological Diffusion and Productivity Convergence across European Regions: A Spatial Approach over the Period 2000-2015," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2021/07, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    10. Augusto Cerqua & Guido Pellegrini, 2023. "I will survive! The impact of place-based policies when public transfers fade out," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(8), pages 1605-1618, August.
    11. Luisa Alama & Joan Crespo & Miguel A. Márquez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2025. "Regional development, quality of government, and the performance of universities," Working Papers 2510, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    12. Ganau, Roberto & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2023. "Firm-level productivity growth returns of social capital: Evidence from Western Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 17979, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Mindaugas Butkus & Alma Maciulyte-Sniukiene & Renata Macaitiene & Kristina Matuzeviciute, 2021. "A New Approach to Examine Non-Linear and Mediated Growth and Convergence Outcomes of Cohesion Policy," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-28, July.
    14. Marc Garcia-Ruiz, 2024. "Does decentralization affect local entrepreneurial capacity?," IREA Working Papers 202413, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Feb 2024.
    15. Hammoda Basel & Küttim Merle, 2024. "The Unicorn Phenomenon: An Embeddedness-Based View of Influencing Factors," TalTech Journal of European Studies, Sciendo, vol. 14(2), pages 274-305.
    16. Peng Bin & Xiaolan Chen & Andrea Fracasso & Chiara Tomasi, 2020. "Firm employment growth in China: The role of marketization and regional economic factors," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 402-439, March.
    17. Raffaela Giordano & Sergi Lanau & Pietro Tommasino & Petia Topalova, 2020. "Does public sector inefficiency constrain firm productivity? Evidence from Italian provinces," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(4), pages 1019-1049, August.
    18. Jordan, David, 2023. "Failing to level up? Industrial policy and productivity in interwar Northern Ireland," QUCEH Working Paper Series 23-04, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    19. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Bartalucci, Federico & Lozano-Gracia, Nancy & Dávalos, María, 2024. "Overcoming left-behindedness. Moving beyond the efficiency versus equity debate in territorial development," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125629, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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