IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/euf/ecopap/0354.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What explains the differences in income and labour utilisation and drives labour and economic growth in Europe? A GDP accounting perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Gilles Mourre

Abstract

The paper decomposes GDP both in terms of level per capita and growth rate, so as to identify the sources of income differences and of economic growth for all EU27 member states. This accounting approach has multiple advantages, although a number of substantial caveats should be borne in mind when interpreting the results. In particular, the detailed accounting approach helps distinguish exogenous from policy-influenced growth drivers. The combination of lower per-hour productivity and lower labour utilisation is the cause of relatively low per capita GDP in euro area and EU15 countries, while weak productivity remains the main concern in the new member states. GDP growth rate has been broken down into 12 items, including an indicator of labour quality, based upon the composition of employment by educational attainment.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilles Mourre, 2009. "What explains the differences in income and labour utilisation and drives labour and economic growth in Europe? A GDP accounting perspective," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 354, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    • Handle: RePEc:euf:ecopap:0354
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/pages/publication13796_en.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Caselli, Francesco, 2005. "Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 679-741, Elsevier.
    2. King, Robert G. & Levine, Ross, 1994. "Capital fundamentalism, economic development, and economic growth," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 259-292, June.
    3. Hielke Buddelmeyer & Gilles Mourre & Melanie Ward, 2008. "Why Europeans work part-time? A cross-country panel analysis," Research in Labor Economics, in: Work, Earnings and Other Aspects of the Employment Relation, pages 81-139, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    4. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2006. "Human Capital in Growth Regressions: How Much Difference Does Data Quality Make?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, March.
    5. André Sapir, 2007. "European strategies for growth," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/8102, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. D. W. Jorgenson & Z. Griliches, 1967. "The Explanation of Productivity Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 34(3), pages 249-283.
    7. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    8. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong-Wha, 1993. "International comparisons of educational attainment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 363-394, December.
    9. André Sapir & Jean Pisani-Ferry, 2006. "Last exit to Lisbon," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/8106, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    10. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    11. Dale W. Jorgenson, 1966. "The Embodiment Hypothesis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(1), pages 1-1.
    12. N. Diez Guardia & K. Pichelmann, 2006. "Labour Migration Patterns in Europe: Recent Trends, Future Challenges," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 256, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    13. Benhabib, Jess & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1991. "Externalities and Growth Accounting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 82-113, March.
    14. 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.
    15. Prescott, Edward C, 1998. "Needed: A Theory of Total Factor Productivity," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(3), pages 525-551, August.
    16. Artis, Michael & Nixson, Frederick, 2007. "Economics of the European Union," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 4, number 9780199298969.
    17. Caselli, Francesco, 2005. "Accounting for cross-country income differences," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 5266, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Paul M. Romer, 1987. "Crazy Explanations for the Productivity Slowdown," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1987, Volume 2, pages 163-210, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Ray Barrell & Catherine Guillemineau & Dawn Holland, 2007. "Decomposing Growth in France, Germany and The United Kingdom Using Growth Accounting and Production Function Approaches," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 199(1), pages 99-113, January.
    20. Carone, Giuseppe & Denis, Cécile & Mc Morrow, Kieran & Mourre, Gilles & Röger, Werner, 2006. "Long-term labour productivity and GDP projections for the EU25 Member States : a production function framework," MPRA Paper 744, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    22. Psacharopoulos, George, 1994. "Returns to investment in education: A global update," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(9), pages 1325-1343, September.
    23. Olga Arratibel & Frigyes Ferdinand Heinz & Reiner Martin & Marcin Przybyla & Lucasz Rawdanowicz & Roberta Serafini & Tina Zumer, 2007. "Determinants of growth in the central and eastern European EU member states - a production function approach," Occasional Paper Series 61, European Central Bank.
    24. Arratibel, Olga & Heinz, Frigyes Ferdinand & Martin, Reiner & Przybyla, Marcin & Rawdanowicz, Lukasz & Serafini, Roberta & Zumer, Tina, 2007. "Determinants of growth in the central and eastern European EU member states - a production function approach," Occasional Paper Series 61, European Central Bank.
    25. Sapir, Andre & Aghion, Philippe & Bertola, Giuseppe & Hellwig, Martin & Pisani-Ferry, Jean & Rosati, Dariusz & Vinals, Jose & Wallace, Helen, 2004. "An Agenda for a Growing Europe: The Sapir Report," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199271498.
    26. Caselli, Francesco, 2005. "Accounting for cross-country income differences," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 3567, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    27. Francesco Caselli & Wilbur John Coleman II, 2006. "The World Technology Frontier," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 499-522, June.
    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. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2012. "Total Factor Productivity Growth in Local Economic Partnership Regions in Britain, 1997-2008," SERC Discussion Papers 0112, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Mihi-Ramírez Antonio & Ojeda-González Sara & Miranda-Martel María José & Agoh Eugene, 2016. "The Contribution of Migration to Economics Growth. Evidence from Spain," Open Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 124-130, August.
    3. Mihajlo Jakovljevic & Paula Odete Fernandes & João Paulo Teixeira & Nemanja Rancic & Yuriy Timofeyev & Vladimir Reshetnikov, 2019. "Underlying Differences in Health Spending Within the World Health Organisation Europe Region—Comparing EU15, EU Post-2004, CIS, EU Candidate, and CARINFONET Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-15, August.
    4. �kos Dombi, 2013. "The sources of economic growth and relative backwardness in the Central Eastern European countries between 1995 and 2007," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 425-447, December.
    5. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2015. "Plant-level determinants of total factor productivity in Great Britain, 1997–2008," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 1-20, August.
    6. Dana Kloudova, 2015. "Estimating Output Gap and Potential Output for Russia and Its Usefulness by Forecasting Inflation," International Journal of Economic Sciences, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 4(1), pages 45-59, March.
    7. Dana Kloudová, 2016. "Does Using Nairu In The Production Function Influence Estimation Of Potential Output And Output Gap?," International Journal of Economic Sciences, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 5(2), pages 1-21, June.
    8. Lorenzo Codogno & Francesco Felici, "undated". "Assessing Italy's Reform Challenges:What Do Growth Accounting and Structural Indicators Say?," Working Papers 8, Department of the Treasury, Ministry of the Economy and of Finance.
    9. Robert Price & Andreas Wörgötter, 2011. "Estonia: Making the Most of Globalisation," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 876, OECD Publishing.
    10. International Monetary Fund, 2012. "Republic of Croatia: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2012/303, International Monetary Fund.
    11. repec:ehl:lserod:56407 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2013. "The Direct Contribution of FDI to Productivity Growth in Britain, 1997–2008," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 713-736, June.
    13. Kloudová Dana, 2014. "Estimating Output Gap and Potential Output for Russia and Its Uselfulness by Forecasting Inflation," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 0402134, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    14. Bergljot B Barkbu & Jesmin Rahman & Rodrigo O. Valdes, 2012. "Fostering Growth in Europe Now," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 12/07, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2011. "Plant-level Determinants of Total Factor Productivity in Great Britain, 1997-2006," SERC Discussion Papers 0064, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2015. "Total Factor Productivity Growth in Local Enterprise Partnership Regions in Britain, 1997-2008," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(6), pages 1019-1041, June.
    17. Louis N. Christofides & Maria Michael, 2010. "Structural Weaknesses in the Economy of Cyprus: How Do We Score Relative to the EU15?," Cyprus Economic Policy Review, University of Cyprus, Economics Research Centre, vol. 4(2), pages 43-71, December.
    18. Gerba, Eddie, 2015. "Have the US macro-financial linkages changed? The balance sheet dimension," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59886, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Dana Kloudová, 2016. "Calculation Of Capital-To-Output Ratio In A Production Function By Estimating Potential Output And Output Gap: The Case For The Czech Republic And Slovakia," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 3206128, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.

    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. Chad Turner & Robert Tamura & Sean Mulholland, 2013. "How important are human capital, physical capital and total factor productivity for determining state economic growth in the United States, 1840–2000?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 319-371, December.
    2. Jones, C.I., 2016. "The Facts of Economic Growth," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 3-69, Elsevier.
    3. Marcelo Soto, 2006. "The Causal Effect of Education on Aggregate Income," Working Papers 0605, International Economics Institute, University of Valencia.
    4. Rui HAO & Zheng WEI, 2009. "Sources Of Income Differences Across Chinese Provinces During The Reform Period: A Development Accounting Exercise," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 47(1), pages 1-29, March.
    5. Nicola Gennaioli & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2013. "Human Capital and Regional Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 105-164.
    6. Duval, Romain & de la Maisonneuve, Christine, 2010. "Long-run growth scenarios for the world economy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 64-80, January.
    7. Priyo Asad Karim Khan, 2012. "Sector-Specific Capital, Labor Market Distortions and Cross-Country Income Differences: A Two-Sector General Equilibrium Approach," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-52, March.
    8. Lee, Jong-Wha & Lee, Hanol, 2016. "Human capital in the long run," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 147-169.
    9. Scott L. Baier & Gerald P. Dwyer & Robert Tamura, 2006. "How Important are Capital and Total Factor Productivity for Economic Growth?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 23-49, January.
    10. Kerekes, Monika, 2007. "Analyzing patterns of economic growth: a production frontier approach," Discussion Papers 2007/15, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    11. Michael Schymura & Andreas Löschel, 2012. "Trade and the Environment: An Application of the WIOD Database," EcoMod2012 3948, EcoMod.
    12. Koopman, Eline & Wacker, Konstantin M., 2023. "Drivers of growth accelerations: What role for capital accumulation?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    13. Antonio Ciccone & Elias Papaioannou, 2009. "Human Capital, the Structure of Production, and Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(1), pages 66-82, February.
    14. Bos, J.W.B. & Economidou, C. & Koetter, M. & Kolari, J.W., 2010. "Do all countries grow alike?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 113-127, January.
    15. Bryan Graham & Jonathan Temple, 2006. "Rich Nations, Poor Nations: How Much Can Multiple Equilibria Explain?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 5-41, March.
    16. Manca, Fabio, 2010. "Technology catch-up and the role of institutions," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 1041-1053, December.
    17. Restuccia, Diego & Yang, Dennis Tao & Zhu, Xiaodong, 2008. "Agriculture and aggregate productivity: A quantitative cross-country analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 234-250, March.
    18. Jakub Growiec, 2013. "On the measurement of technological progress across countries," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 44(5), pages 467-504.
    19. Cragun, Randy & Tamura, Robert & Jerzmanowski, Michal, 2017. "Directed technical change: A macro perspective on life cycle earnings profiles," MPRA Paper 81830, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Pedro Cavalcanti Ferreira & Alberto Trejos, 2011. "Gains from Trade and Measured Total Factor Productivity," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 14(3), pages 496-510, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    GDP accounting; European Union; Aggregate employment; Average hours worked; Quality of Labour; Mourre; What explains the differences in income and labour utilsation and drives labour and economic growth in Europe? A GDP accounting perspective;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

    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:euf:ecopap:0354. 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: ECFIN INFO (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dg2ecbe.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.