Productivity Growth in Europe
This paper tests whether structural or firm-specific characteristics contributed more to (labor) productivity growth in the European Union between 2003 and 2008. It combines the Amadeus firm-level data on productivity and firm characteristics with...
Main Authors: | , , , |
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Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/17709669/productivity-growth-europe http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15584 |
Summary: | This paper tests whether structural or
firm-specific characteristics contributed more to (labor)
productivity growth in the European Union between 2003 and
2008. It combines the Amadeus firm-level data on
productivity and firm characteristics with country-level
data describing regulatory environments from the World
Bank's Doing Business surveys, foreign direct
investment data from Eurostat, infrastructure quality
assessments from the Global Competitiveness Report, and
credit availability from the World Development Indicators.
It finds that among the 12 newest members of the European
Union, country characteristics are most important for firm
productivity growth, particularly the stock of inward
foreign direct investment and the availability of credit. By
contrast, among the more developed 15 elder European Union
member countries, firm-level characteristics, such as
industry, size, and international affiliation, are most
important for growth. The quality of the regulatory
environment, measured by Doing Business indicators, is
importantly correlated with productivity growth in all
cases. This finding suggests that European Union nations can
realize significant benefits from improving regulations and
encouraging inward and outward foreign direct investment. |
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