The Middle Productivity Trap: Dynamics of Productivity Dispersion

Dany Bahar

No 87a, CID Working Papers from Center for International Development at Harvard University

Abstract: Using a worldwide firm-level panel dataset I document a "U-shaped" relationship between productivity growth and baseline levels within each country and industry. That is, fast productivity growth is concentrated at both ends of the productivity distribution. This result serves as a potential explanation to two stylized facts documented in the economic literature: the rising productivity dispersion within narrowly defined sectors, and the increasing market share of few yet highly productive firms.

Keywords: productivity; convergence; divergence; dispersion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D2 O3 O4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-eff and nep-gro
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The middle productivity trap: Dynamics of productivity dispersion (2018)
Working Paper: The Middle Productivity Trap: Dynamics of Productivity Dispersion (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cid:wpfacu:87a

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