Staff Discussion Notes

The New Normal: A Sector-level Perspective on Productivity Trends in Advanced Economies

By Era Dabla-Norris, Si Guo, V. Haksar, Minsuk Kim, Kalpana Kochhar, Kevin Wiseman, Aleksandra Zdzienicka

March 18, 2015

Download PDF

Preview Citation

Format: Chicago

Era Dabla-Norris, Si Guo, V. Haksar, Minsuk Kim, Kalpana Kochhar, Kevin Wiseman, and Aleksandra Zdzienicka. The New Normal: A Sector-level Perspective on Productivity Trends in Advanced Economies, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2015) accessed November 21, 2024

Disclaimer: This Staff Discussion Note represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent IMF views or IMF policy. The views expressed herein should be attributed to the authors and not to the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management. Staff Discussion Notes are published to elicit comments and to further debate.

Summary

Total factor productivity growth was stagnant or slowing in many advanced countries even prior to the crisis. This paper documents sector-level productivity patterns across advanced economies prior to the crisis and examines the role of product and labor market rigidities as well as innovation and investments in information technology and human capital in driving productivity differences across sectors and countries. Since productivity payoffs of reforms evolve over time, we also focus on large changes in the structural indicators examine their dynamic impact on productivity, employment, and output. Our results suggest that reform priorities depend on country-specific settings, including the scale of specific policy distortions and the distance from the technology frontier. Productivity gains from reforms are large and materialize predominantly in the medium term, with some important variations across industries and countries.

Subject: Commodity markets, Financial markets, Information technology in revenue administration, Labor, Production, Productivity, Revenue administration, Total factor productivity

Keywords: Commodity markets, Europe, Global, Growth, Growth gain, Information technology in revenue administration, Productivity, Productivity effect, Productivity frontier, Productivity gain, Productivity growth, Productivity impact, Productivity-enhancing effect, SDN, Structural change, Structural reforms, TFP gain, TFP gap, TFP growth, TFP level, Total factor productivity, Trend growth

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    58

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Staff Discussion Notes No. 2015/003

  • Stock No:

    SDNEA201503

  • ISBN:

    9781498334181

  • ISSN:

    2617-6750

Notes

Technical Appendix

You May Also Be Interested In...

Unlocking Adaptation Finance in Emerging Market and Developing Economies

November 19, 2024

Quarterly Projection Model for the Bank of Ghana: Extensions and Applications

November 15, 2024

Growth Convergence and Public Finances of India and its States

November 15, 2024

Foreign Exchange Intervention Under the Integrated Policy Framework: The Case of India

November 15, 2024