Estimación de la productividad total de los factores y las elasticidades sectoriales a partir de la Cuenta de Generación del Ingreso de Argentina[Estimation of Total Factor Productivity and Sectoral Elasticities Based on Argentina’s Income Generation Account]

Sectoral elasticities of labor and capital and the aggregate total factor productivity (TFP) of the Argentine economy are estimated over the period 2016–2025, drawing on the Income Generation Account of the System of National Accounts. A key challenge is the treatment of mixed income corresponding to small firms and self-employed workers, for which factor endowments are not directly observed. We propose a two-stage procedure. First, labor elasticities of medium and large firms are recovered from the observed wage bill and gross operating surplus; endowments of small firms are then imputed using a correction factor that incorporates an exogenous wage gap and employment ratios. Second, a regression model (OLS and IWLS) is estimated on the resulting factor intensities to obtain mean sectoral capital elasticities and a time series of aggregate TFP at current prices. Capital elasticities are highest in transport and communications, agriculture, and real-estate activities, and lowest in public administration and domestic service. The electricity, gas and water sector yields a near-zero capital elasticity, likely reflecting tariff freezes and goverment subsidy effects. Aggregate TFP exhibits a procyclical pattern—rising until 2018, collapsing during the 2020–2021 pandemic, and recovering thereafter—although most year-to-year differences relative to 2016 are not statistically significant. Because the estimates are constructed at current prices, the residual incorporates relative-price movements as well as pure productivity changes.