Trends of labour productivity in Italy: a study with panel co‐integration methods

Stefano Fachin and Andrea Gavosto

International Journal of Manpower, 2010, vol. 31, issue 7, 755-769

Abstract: Purpose - The main aim of this paper is to examine labour productivity trends in Italy over the period 1981‐2004. Design/methodology/approach - To this end, relying on recent developments in the analysis of non‐stationary dependent panels, the paper develops a new method for estimating total factor productivity (TFP) trends. Findings - The conclusions confirm the view that the recent decline in Italian labour productivity growth is mostly due to a widespread fall in TFP growth. Research limitations/implications - The main assumption underlying the proposed TFP estimation method is that technology growth is driven by a single trend common to all units included in the panel (industries, regions or countries). Originality/value - The paper provides two distinct contributions: empirically, it provides robust evidence that TFP slow‐down is the main cause of recent negative trends in labour productivity in Italy. Methodologically, the paper proposes an approach to estimating TFP that enjoys several advantages: only basic data for input and output flows are needed, the non‐stationary nature of the data is explicitly taken into account, and confidence intervals for TFP growth can be computed. This method can thus be easily applied to many routinely available datasets, to either corroborate existing growth accounting estimates or to obtain previously unavailable estimates.

Keywords: Productivity rate; Labour; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijmpps:v:31:y:2010:i:7:p:755-769

DOI: 10.1108/01437721011081581

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Manpower is currently edited by Professor Adrian Ziderman

More articles in International Journal of Manpower from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().