Living on the edge: An anatomy of New Zealand’s most productive firms

Richard Fabling

No 21_01, Working Papers from Motu Economic and Public Policy Research

Abstract: Theory and international evidence suggest that firms at the New Zealand productivity frontier may be especially important for the diffusion of knowledge from the global productivity frontier, acting as a conduit for new technologies and ideas to flow into the domestic economy. We identify the NZ productivity frontier in a novel way that is robust to some sources of measurement error, and to criticism that the frontier label is dependent on arbitrary assumptions. We show that economic activity is concentrated in the upper deciles of the productivity distribution, and that frontier firms are disproportionately important to aggregate output, even relative to firms just outside the frontier. Compared to laggard firms, frontier firms: employ a more skilled workforce concentrated in major Urban Areas (particularly Auckland); have superior human resource management practices; are more export intensive; are more likely to have up-to-date technology (including UFB use); and to be in markets with no competitors.

Keywords: Multifactor productivity; productivity frontier; productivity growth; management practices; innovation; exporting; foreign direct investment; competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D20 L20 M21 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 84 pages
Date: 2021-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-int and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mtu:wpaper:21_01

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