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Business and Economics > Production and Operations Management

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 71 items for :

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  • Empirical Studies of Trade x
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Cover IMF Working Papers
Europe’s Productivity Weakness: Firm-Level Roots and Remedies
Oyun Erdene Adilbish
,
Diego A. Cerdeiro
,
Romain A Duval
,
Gee Hee Hong
,
Luca Mazzone
,
Lorenzo Rotunno
,
Hasan H Toprak
, and
Maryam Vaziri
Europe faces a well-known productivity malaise, with a large and widening aggregate productivity gap relative to the U.S. In this paper, we provide a novel diagnosis of the firm-level roots of Europe’s productivity growth slowdown through an analysis of data covering the universe of firms in Europe and the U.S over their life cycles. Compared to their U.S. counterparts, we identify critical performance gaps among both Europe’s frontier firms and young high-growth firms. Our firm-level analyses reveal that smaller markets and limited market-based financing are key bottlenecks for frontier European firms, while skill shortages and insufficient risk capital, such as venture capital, hinder the formation and subsequent growth of young firms in Europe. These findings suggest that removing remaining intra-Europe barriers to accelerate factor and product markets integration, alongside national reforms to facilitate swifter resource reallocation and enhance human capital, could help revive Europe’s productivity growth.
Keywords:
Firm-level productivity; business dynamism.; EU accession; productivity weakness; productivity problem; frontier firm; trade Barries; firm Size; Productivity; Trade balance; Trade barriers; Total factor productivity; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Industrial Policy in Europe: A Single Market Perspective
Andrew Hodge
,
Roberto Piazza
,
Fuad Hasanov
,
Xun Li
,
Maryam Vaziri
,
Atticus Weller
, and
Yu Ching Wong
European countries are increasingly turning to industrial policy to address the challenge of geopolitical fragmentation, enhance productivity, and accelerate the green transition. Well-targeted industrial policy has the potential to correct market failures and support production efficiency by exploiting scale effects and internalizing knowledge externalities. But even the most carefully designed unilateral industrial policies risk generating negative production externalities in other countries, and, under certain conditions, may not even be welfare-enhancing for the implementing country. The reason is that negative externalities of unilateral industrial policy can drive European and international production patterns away from underlying comparative advantages, create regional or global over-supply, and result in changes in terms of trade that reduce domestic welfare. This suggests significant benefits from coordination. Structural modeling and case studies show that a coordinated approach within the European Union and with international trading partners on a narrowly defined and carefully designed set of industrial policies could unlock untapped benefits. Closer European integration would facilitate the adjustment of firms and workers to coordinated and well-targeted industrial policies and amplify their benefits.
Keywords:
Industrial policy; European Single Market; State Aid; EU aerospace industry export; EU single market; fishery block exemption regulation; State aid expenditure; single market perspective; Comparative advantage; Demand elasticity; Competition; Terms of trade; Europe; Global
Cover Selected Issues Papers
Spillovers from China’s Growth Slowdown to the Singapore Economy: Singapore
Kodjovi M. Eklou
,
Shujaat Khan
, and
Margaux MacDonald
This paper examines the impact of China's economic deceleration on Singapore, highlighting how the deepening trade integration and China's pivotal role in Global Value Chains (GVCs) amplify these spillover effects. Utilizing multi-region input-output tables, empirical estimates, and the IMF's Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal model, it identifies significant sectoral and aggregate impacts, particularly in electrical and machinery manufacturing, petrochemicals, and financial services. The analysis underscores the vulnerability of Singapore's economy to shifts in Chinese demand and productivity, emphasizing the need for vigilant monitoring and strategic adaptation to mitigate potential risks associated with China's slowdown.
Keywords:
China; ASEAN; Growth Spillovers; Input-output table; Local projections; General equilibrium model; Global value chains; IMF China growth projection; China growth shock; Singapore economy; growth slowdown; growth shock; Spillovers; Exports; Productivity; Southeast Asia; Global; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Effect of Tariffs in Global Value Chains
Johannes Eugster
,
Ms. Florence Jaumotte
,
Ms. Margaux MacDonald
, and
Mr. Roberto Piazza
This paper empirically investigates the impact of tariffs when production is organized in global value chains. Using global input-output matrices, we construct four different tariff measures that capture the direct and indirect exposure to tariffs at different stages of the production chain for a broad set of countries and industries. Our results suggest that tariffs have significant effects on economic outcomes, including on countries and sectors not directly targeted. We find that tariffs higher up and further down in the value chain depress value added, employment, labor productivity and total factor productivity to varying degrees. We find no benefits for the sector that enjoys additional protection, yet there is some evidence of economic activity being diverted, i.e. positive effects on value added and employment from tariffs imposed on competitors. Our paper relates to recent innovations in theoretical gravity models and provides an empirical assessment of possible long-term effects of recent trade tensions.
Keywords:
Tariffs; global value chains; value added; productivity; IMF working paper research Department; tariff measure; employment from tariff; tariff war; upstream tariff; effect of tariff; Tariffs; Total factor productivity; Labor productivity; Exports; Imports; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
An Evaluation of World Economic Outlook Growth Forecasts, 2004–17
Oya Celasun
,
Jungjin Lee
,
Mr. Mico Mrkaic
, and
Mr. Allan Timmermann
This paper examines the performance of World Economic Outlook (WEO) growth forecasts for 2004-17. Short-term real GDP growth forecasts over that period exhibit little bias, and their accuracy is broadly similar to those of Consensus Economics forecasts. By contrast, two- to five-year ahead WEO growth forecasts in 2004-17 tend to be upward biased, and in up to half of countries less accurate than a naïve forecast given by the average growth rate in the recent past. The analysis suggests that a more efficient use of available information on internal and external factors—such as the estimated output gap, projected terms of trade, and the growth forecasts of major trading partners—can improve the accuracy of some economies’ growth forecasts.
Keywords:
Forecasting; forecasting bias and efficiency; WEO growth forecast; forecasting bias; Consensus Economics forecast; World Economic Outlook growth; forecast error; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Terms of trade; GDP forecasting; Output gap; Global financial crisis of 2008-2009; Caribbean; Middle East; North Africa; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Sizing Up the Effects of Technological Decoupling
Rui Mano
,
Johannes Eugster
,
Mr. Dirk V Muir
, and
Mr. Shanaka J Peiris
This paper proposes channels through which technological decoupling can affect global growth, and embeds these different layers in a global dynamic macroeconomic model. Multiple scenarios are considered that differ along two dimensions: (i) the coalition of countries (hubs) that initiate the decoupling, and (ii) whether non-hub countries are also forced to decouple via ‘preferential attachment’ – i.e. by aligning themselves with the hub they trade most with. All global technology hubs lose across scenarios, and losses are largest under preferential attachment. Smaller countries with relations that straddle multiple hubs generally lose, whereas those whose trade is heavily concentrated with one hub may gain due to reduced competition under some scenarios. Technological fragmentation can lead to losses in the order of 5 percent of GDP for many economies.
Keywords:
Technological decoupling; trade; non-tariff barriers.; non-tariff barriers; China-United States; R&D number; innovation drive; United States stop; world trade f low; sectoral trade elasticity; high-tech goods trade; Labor productivity; Productivity; Spillovers; Exports; Trade balance; Global; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Working Papers
Worker Mobility and Domestic Production Networks
Marvin Cardoza
,
Mr. Francesco Grigoli
, and
Mr. Nicola Pierri
We show that domestic production networks shape worker flows between firms. Data on the universe of firm-to-firm transactions for the Dominican Republic, matched with employer-employee records, reveals that about 20 percent of workers who change firms move to a buyer or supplier of their original firm. This is a considerably larger share than would be implied by a random allocation of movers to firms. We find considerable gains associated with this form of hiring: higher worker wages, lower job separation rates, faster firm productivity growth, and faster coworker wage growth. Hiring workers from a supplier is followed by a rising share of purchases from that supplier. These findings indicate that human capital is easily transferable along the supply chain and that human capital accumulated while working at a firm is complementary with the intermediate products/services produced by that firm.
Keywords:
WP; production network; connected firm; firm pair control; worker flow; origin firm; hiring firm; dummy variable; buyer-supplier relationship; Labor mobility; Wages; Productivity; Human capital; Trade balance
Cover IMF Working Papers
Trade, Productivity and (Mis)allocation
Antoine Berthou
,
John Jong-Hyun Chung
,
Kalina Manova
, and
Charlotte Sandoz
We examine the gains from globalization in the presence of firm heterogeneity and potential resource misallocation. We show theoretically that without distortions, bilateral and export liberalizations increase aggregate welfare and productivity, while import liberalization has ambiguous effects. Resource misallocation can either amplify, dampen or reverse the gains from trade. Using model-consistent measures and unique new data on 14 European countries and 20 industries in 1998-2011, we empirically establish that exogenous shocks to export demand and import competition both generate large aggregate productivity gains. Guided by theory, we provide evidence consistent with these effects operating through reallocations across firms in the presence of distortions: (i) Both export and import expansion increase average firm productivity, but the former also shifts activity towards more productive firms, while the latter acts in reverse; (ii) Both export and import exposure raise the productivity threshold for survival, but this cut-off is not a sufficient statistic for aggregate productivity; (iii) Efficient institutions, factor and product markets amplify the gains from import competition but dampen those from export access.
Keywords:
WP; math display; total factor productivity; International trade; export demand; import competition; productivity; allocative efficiency; misallocation; aggregate productivity; resource misallocation; employment share; real value; productivity gain; firm productivity; Exports; Imports; Trade liberalization; Competition; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Global Value Chains and Productivity: Micro Evidence from Estonia
Hang T. Banh
,
Mr. Philippe Wingender
, and
Cheikh A. Gueye
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented collapse in global economic activity and trade. The crisis has also highlighted the role played by global value chains (GVC), with countries facing shortages of components vital to everything from health systems to everyday household goods. Despite the vulnerabilities associated with increased interconnectedness, GVCs have also contributed to increasing productivity and long-term growth. We explore empirically the impact of GVC participation on productivity in Estonia using firm-level data from 2000 to 2016. We find that higher GVC participation at the industry level significantly boosts productivity at both the industry and the firm level. Frontier firms, large firms, and exporting firms also benefit more from GVC participation than non-frontier firms, small firms, and non-exporting firms. We also find that GVC participation of downstream industries has a negative correlation with productivity. Frontier firms and large firms benefit more from GVC participation of upstream industries, while non-frontier firms and small firms benefit more from GVC participation of downstream industries. Our results suggest that policies designed to promote participation in GVCs are important to raise aggregate productivity and potential growth in Estonia.
Keywords:
WP; GVC participation; production function; export firm; global value chains; trade; productivity; industry level; industry productivity growth; GVC supplier; participation measure; firm level; dependent variable; capital intensity; GVC buyer; Exports; Industrial productivity; Labor productivity; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Australia: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This Selected Issues paper investigates the drivers of business investment in Australia, focusing on the non-mining sectors. The paper also identifies aggregate-level drivers for non-mining business investment by looking at long-term trends. It delves into firm-level investment behavior and assesses the role of credit availability and uncertainty in different types of firms. Long-term empirical and simulation-based analyses suggest that global factors such as rising policy uncertainty and weaker commodity prices have been key drivers of the slowdown, while in the short term, a renewed escalation in US–China trade tensions could spill over to investment and growth in Australia. Yet, domestic factors are also at play, including domestic policy uncertainty and financial constraints, especially for smaller and younger firms. The pace of product market reforms can also impact business investment. Australia can promote business investment by reducing domestic policy uncertainty, easing credit constraints for small- and medium-sized enterprises, incentivizing research and development, and continuing with product market and tax reforms.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; investment; product market; Australia; investment slowdown; product market reform; intangible investment; uncertainty indices; venture capital; Non-mining business investment; R&D investment; panel regression; Private investment; Commodity markets; Trade policy; Productivity; Terms of trade; Global