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Productivity, welfare, and reallocation: theory and firm-level evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Susanto Basu
  • Luigi Pascali
  • Fabio Schiantarelli
  • Luis Serven

Abstract

We prove that the change in welfare of a representative consumer is summarized by the current and expected future values of the standard Solow productivity residual. The equivalence holds if the representative household maximizes utility while taking prices parametrically. This result justifies total factor productivity (TFP) as the right summary measure of welfare (even in situations where it does not properly measure technology) and makes it possible to calculate the contributions of disaggregated units (industries or firms) to aggregate welfare using readily available TFP data. Based on this finding, we compute firm and industry contributions to welfare for a set of European OECD countries (Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain), using industry-level (EU-KLEMS) and firm-level (Amadeus) data. After adding further assumptions about technology and market structure (firms minimize costs and face common factor prices), we show that changes in welfare can be decomposed into three components that reflect, respectively, technological change, aggregate distortions, and allocative efficiency. Then, using appropriate firm-level data, we assess the importance of each of these components as sources of welfare improvement in the same set of European countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Susanto Basu & Luigi Pascali & Fabio Schiantarelli & Luis Serven, 2009. "Productivity, welfare, and reallocation: theory and firm-level evidence," Working Papers 09-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:09-19
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    Cited by:

    1. Susanto Basu & Luigi Pascali & Fabio Schiantarelli & Luis Serven, 2012. "Productivity and the welfare of nations," Economics Working Papers 1312, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    2. Susanto Basu & Luigi Pascali & Fabio Schiantarelli & Luis Serven, 2022. "Productivity and the Welfare of Nations," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 1647-1682.
    3. Jae Sim & Egon Zakrajsek & Simon Gilchrist, 2010. "Uncertainty, Financial Frictions, and Investment Dynamics," 2010 Meeting Papers 1285, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Eric J. Bartelsman & Zoltan Wolf, 2017. "Measuring Productivity Dispersion," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-033/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Chad Syverson, 2011. "What Determines Productivity?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 326-365, June.
    6. Cheng,wenyin & Meng,Bo & Yuan,Tangjun, 2025. "The paradox of productivity and welfare: The role of institutional markdown," IDE Discussion Papers 959, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    7. Ariel Weinberger, 2015. "Markups and misallocation with trade and heterogeneous firms," Globalization Institute Working Papers 251, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    8. Biewen, Martin & Weiser, Constantin, 2011. "A New Approach to Testing Marginal Productivity Theory," IZA Discussion Papers 6113, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. John R. Baldwin & Wulong Gu & Beiling Yan, 2013. "Export Growth, Capacity Utilization, and Productivity Growth: Evidence from the Canadian Manufacturing Plants," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59(4), pages 665-688, December.
    10. Cheng,Wenyin & Fukao,Kyoji & Meng,Bo, 2024. "Global Value Chains: Unveiling the Nexus of Productivity and Welfare," IDE Discussion Papers 933, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    11. Sophie Osotimehin, 2019. "Aggregate productivity and the allocation of resources over the business cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 32, pages 180-205, April.
    12. Koetter, Michael, 2013. "Market structure and competition in German banking: Modules I and IV," Working Papers 06/2013, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung.
    13. Albert Bollard & Peter Klenow & Gunjam Sharma, 2013. "India's Mysterious Manufacturing Miracle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(1), pages 59-85, January.
    14. David Zeke & Robert Kurtzman, 2016. "Accounting for Productivity Dispersion over the Business Cycle," 2016 Meeting Papers 482, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Michel Dumont, 2011. "Working Paper 11-11 - A decomposition of industry-level productivity growth in Belgium using firm-level data," Working Papers 1111, Federal Planning Bureau, Belgium.
    16. Daniel Gonçalves & Ana Martins, 2016. "The Determinants of TFP Growth in the Portuguese Manufacturing Sector," GEE Papers 0062, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Nov 2016.
    17. G. Jacob Blackwood & Lucia S. Foster & Cheryl A. Grim & John Haltiwanger & Zoltan Wolf, 2021. "Macro and Micro Dynamics of Productivity: From Devilish Details to Insights," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 142-172, July.
    18. Charles I. Jones & Peter J. Klenow, 2016. "Beyond GDP? Welfare across Countries and Time," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(9), pages 2426-2457, September.
    19. Talan B. Işcan, 2012. "Allocative Inefficiency and Sectoral Allocation of Labor: Evidence From US Structural Transformation," Working Papers daleconwp2012-02, Dalhousie University, Department of Economics.
    20. Guido Sandleris & Mark L. J. Wright, 2014. "The Costs of Financial Crises: Resource Misallocation, Productivity, and Welfare in the 2001 Argentine Crisis," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 116(1), pages 87-127, January.
    21. Susanto Basu & Luigi Pascali & Fabio Schiantarelli & Luis Serven, 2012. "Productivity and the Welfare of Nations," Working Papers 621, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
    22. Lucia S. Foster & Cheryl A. Grim & John Haltiwanger & Zoltan Wolf, 2017. "Macro and Micro Dynamics of Productivity: From Devilish Details to Insights," NBER Working Papers 23666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Ezra Oberfield, 2011. "Productivity and Misallocation During a Crisis," 2011 Meeting Papers 1328, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    24. Inklaar, Robert & Koetter, Michael & Noth, Felix, 2015. "Bank market power, factor reallocation, and aggregate growth," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 31-44.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • E20 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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