Convergence of Firm-Level Productivity, Globalisation, Information Technology and Competition: Evidence from France

Paul-Antoine Chevalier, Remy Lecat () and Nicholas Oulton ()

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: Studies of firm-level data have shown that there is a huge dispersion of productivity across firms evenwhen industries are narrowly defined. So there is a significant opportunity for the least productivefirms to catch up to the most productive. The formers' convergence could therefore constitute animportant part of productivity growth at the macroeconomic level. This article sheds light on thisconvergence process in the 1990s and the 2000s in France and on some of the factors which canexplain it. Productivity convergence was stronger for labour productivity than for total factorproductivity. But most importantly the speed of convergence has slowed during the course of the1990s, a fact which is explained principally by the acceleration of the productivity of firms on thetechnological frontier. Three possible explanations of these stylised facts are considered:globalisation, information technology, and competition. Globalisation and information technologymay have benefited the most productive firms more and the growth of competition may at the sametime have stimulated the productivity of firms at the frontier while discouraging the convergence ofthe least productive firms.

Keywords: Convergence; productivity; TFP; globalisation; ICT; competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 D40 F10 J24 L11 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec and nep-eff
Date: 2009-03
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Working Paper: Convergence of firm-level productivity, globalisation, information technology, and competition: evidence from France (2009)
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