عوامل موثر بر رشد TFP:در شکاف TFP محرک ضایع امریکا و اتحادیه اروپا

This paper explores the determinants of the EU–US TFP growth gap using EU KLEMS. As found in previous analyses, TFP growth appears to be driven by catching-up phenomena associated with the gradual adoption of new technologies. TFP growth is also significantly driven by developments at the “technological frontier”, especially since the mid-1990s. Industries with higher R&D expenditures and higher adoption rates for ICT-intensive technologies appear to exhibit higher TFP growth rates, whilst human capital has mostly a significant effect across countries. Regarding determinants in industries relevant for the different TFP performance of the EU versus the US, ICT-producing industries appear to benefit from R&D in terms of stronger spillovers from TFP gains at the frontier, network utilities are strongly affected by product market regulations, whilst the retail and wholesale trade industry is significantly influenced by consumption dynamics which permit a better exploitation of scale economies.

Total factor productivity (TFP) is the main driver of growth in most mature economies, and understanding the determinants of TFP growth is essential in devising policies that help to enhance growth prospects. Most existing analyses aimed at analysing the determinants of TFP growth take either an aggregate perspective or make use of the overall available industry sample in panel data analysis. However, there is growing agreement that the bulk of TFP growth could be concentrated in a relatively narrow set of industries. This consideration appears especially relevant for the debate on the gap between the EU and the US in terms of productivity growth.

This paper, in exploiting the EU KLEMS database, makes a step forward in deciphering the TFP dynamics in those industries that account for most of the EU–US TFP growth gap. As in previous analyses, we find that TFP is stronger the further away are countries from the frontier. However, we also find that the catching-up process taking place across countries in terms of TFP levels seems to be weakening over time, as revealed by a reduction in the statistical significance of this explanatory variable after 1995. The use of the TFP measures available in the EU KLEMS database permits one to identify a statistically significant role for TFP advances taking place at the “frontier”, as an explanatory variable for TFP growth. This result appears indeed to be related to the fact that the EU KLEMS TFP measures take into account the impact of changes in the quality (composition) of labour and capital services.