Narrow Your Choices

Refine By Countries

Refine By Series

Refine By Language

Refine By Date

—

Refine By IMF Taxonomy

Refine By JEL Taxonomy

Refine by LOC Taxonomy

Refine By THEMA Taxonomy

  • Print
  • Save

Business and Economics > Production and Operations Management

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 40 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
Clear All Modify Search
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Euro Area Policies: 2024 Annual Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Member Countries
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
The 2024 Article IV Consultation explains that the euro area is recovering gradually, with a modest acceleration of growth projected for 2024, gathering further speed in 2025. Increasing real wages together with some drawdown of household savings are contributing to consumption, while the projected easing of financing conditions is supporting a recovery in investment. A modest pickup in growth is projected for 2024, strengthening further in 2025. This primarily reflects expected stronger consumption on the back of rising real wages and higher investment supported by easing financing conditions. Inflation is projected to return to target in the second half of 2025. The economy is confronting important new challenges, layered on existing ones. Beyond returning inflation to target and ensuring credible fiscal consolidation in high-debt countries, the euro area must urgently focus on enhancing innovation and productivity. Higher growth is essential for creating policy space to tackle the fiscal challenges of aging, the green transition, energy security, and defense.
Keywords:
EU institution; EU industrial; headline inflation; EU climate; two-sided inflation risk; Inflation; Labor markets; Fiscal consolidation; Europe; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Slovak Republic: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper focuses on drivers and impacts of inflation in Slovakia. High and volatile inflation in Slovakia in recent years seems to be mainly driven by volatile food prices amplified by the larger consumer price index weight of food items. Other drivers include the large impact of imported inflation, elevated profit margins of domestic firms, and higher wage growth. High inflation could erode external competitiveness through higher unit labor costs, but there is no clear evidence of this so far. Domestically, high inflation has had uneven impacts across households and firms. Firms with the largest cost increases experienced a deterioration in their financial situation, and certain categories of households, including those with low-income levels and the elderly, are particularly vulnerable to the rising cost of living. The recent fall in inflation is projected to continue, but strong unit labor cost growth or an increase in profit margins could keep inflation elevated and undermine competitiveness.
Keywords:
price change; unit labor cost; inflation in Slovakia; B. income convergence; D. policy implication; Inflation; Productivity; Total factor productivity; Aging; Europe; Central and Eastern Europe; Baltics
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Singapore: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
Selected Issues
Keywords:
consumption growth; issuance industry breakdown; cash use; E-payment infrastructure; employment loss; consumption expenditure distribution; short term labor market; Climate finance; Consumption; Climate change; Productivity; Global; Asia and Pacific; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Small and Vulnerable: Small Firm Productivity in the Great Productivity Slowdown
Sophia Chen
and
Dongyeol Lee
We provide broad-based evidence of a firm size premium of total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Europe after the Global Financial Crisis. The TFP growth of smaller firms was more adversely affected and diverged from their larger counterparts after the crisis. The impact was progressively larger for medium, small, and micro firms relative to large firms. It was also disproportionally larger for firms with limited credit market access. Moreover, smaller firms were less likely to have access to safer banks: those that were better capitalized banks and with a presence in the credit default swap market. Horseraces suggest that firm size may be a more important and robust vulnerability indicator than balance sheet characteristics. Our results imply that the tightening of credit market conditions during the crisis, coupled with limited credit market access especially among micro, small, and medium firms, may have contributed to the large and persistent drop in aggregate TFP.
Keywords:
Credit constraint; Financial crisis; Firm size; Intangibles; Producvitity; SMEs; WP; TFP growth; creditor bank; size premium; credit market access; micro firm; vulnerability indicator
Cover IMF Working Papers
Productivity in the Netherlands
Mr. Sakai Ando
Although GDP growth in the Netherlands has recently been stronger than in peer countries, the main contributor has been the growth in labor. If GDP is divided by labor, productivity growth appears to have been slower than in peers. This chapter discusses both exogenous and endogenous factors behind the disappointing productivity growth in the Netherlands and derives policy implications.
Keywords:
WP; productivity growth; productivity-enhancing investment; high-productivity mining; low-productivity sector; capital section; productivity slowdown; Productivity; Labor markets; Employment; Information technology in revenue administration; Global; labor-market duality
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 Working Papers
Booms, Crises, and Recoveries: A New Paradigm of the Business Cycle and its Policy Implications
Ms. Valerie Cerra
and
Ms. Sweta Chaman Saxena
All types of recessions, on average, not just those associated with financial and political crises (as in Cerra and Saxena, AER 2008), lead to permanent output losses. These findings have far-reaching conceptual and policy implications. A new paradigm of the business cycle needs to account for shifts in trend output and the puzzling inconsistency of output dynamics with other cyclical components of production. The ‘output gap’ can be ill-conceived, poorly measured, and inconsistent over time. Persistent losses require more buffers and crisis-avoidance policies, affecting tradeoffs in prudential, macroeconomic, and reserve management policies. The frequency and depth of crises are key determinants of long-term growth and drive a new stylized model of economic development.
Keywords:
WP; recession; financial crisis; crisis; business cycle; booms; crises; recoveries; output gap; growth; development; fiscal policy; monetary policy; foreign reserves; macro-prudential policy; Global Financial Crisis; output loss; economic development; debt-crisis legacy; recession consist; output gap estimate; banking recession; recession year; shift aggregate; recession period; output gaps in the United States; output gap in the recession; Business cycles; Banking crises; Potential output; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
State-Owned Enterprises in Emerging Europe: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Uwe Böwer
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) play an important role in Emerging Europe’s economies, notably in the energy and transport sectors. Based on a new firm-level dataset, this paper reviews the SOE landscape, assesses SOE performance across countries and vis-à-vis private firms, and evaluates recent SOE governance reform experience in 11 Emerging European countries, as well as Sweden as a benchmark. Profitability and efficiency of resource allocation of SOEs lag those of private firms in most sectors, with substantial cross-country variation. Poor SOE performance raises three main risks: large and risky contingent liabilities could stretch public finances; sizeable state ownership of banks coupled with poor governance could threaten financial stability; and negative productivity spillovers could affect the economy at large. SOE governance frameworks are partly weak and should be strengthened along three lines: fleshing out a consistent ownership policy; giving teeth to financial oversight; and making SOE boards more professional.
Keywords:
WP; SOE performance; output share; SOE governance challenge; governance reform; SOE profitability; State-Owned Enterprises; Emerging Europe Author’s; firm profitability; SOE landscape; oversight unit; ownership function; performance target; reform effort; professionalized SOE board; infrastructure sector; Public enterprises; Energy sector; Services sector; Contingent liabilities; Productivity; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Women Are Key for Future Growth: Evidence from Canada
Bengt Petersson
,
Rodrigo Mariscal
, and
Kotaro Ishi
How important are female workers for economic growth? This paper presents empirical evidence that an increase in female labor force participation is positively associated with labor productivity growth. Using panel data for 10 Canadian provinces over 1990–2015, we found that a 1 percentage point increase in the labor force participation among women with high educational attainment would raise Canada’s overall labor productivity growth by 0.2 to 0.3 percentage point a year. This suggests that if the current gap of 7 percentage points between male and female labor force participation with high educational attainment were eliminated, the level of real GDP could be about 4 percent higher today. The government has appropriately stepped up its efforts to improve gender equality, as part of its growth strategy. In particular, the government’s plan to expand access to affordable child care is a positive step. However, we argue that to maximize the policy outcome given a budget constraint, provision of subsidized child care—including publicly funded child care spaces—should be better targeted to working parents.
Keywords:
WP; labor force; parental leave; labor market; federal government; Canada; female participation; labor productivity; benefit system; taxation; productivity growth; Canada child benefit program; OECD economy; employment insurance; child care fee; assistance program; Women; Labor force participation; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Poland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This paper discusses key issues related to the economy of Poland. Thanks to its sound policies, close links to the German supply chain, and substantial EU transfers, Poland is the only country in the European Union that avoided an outright recession during the global financial crisis. However, this strong performance has masked enduring regional disparities, which are undermining the quality of growth. Poland faces significant long-term challenges as an aging population weighs on potential growth and public finances. The new government, which took office in November, has approved a Responsible Development Plan, focused on spurring growth through innovation and reducing social and regional disparities.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; bank; Poland; asset tax; tax; productivity growth; OECD average; participation in Poland; tax outlay; Productivity; Bank levy; Women; Labor productivity; Gender diversity; Europe; Global