Productivity, Wages and Profits: Does Firms' Position in the Value Chain Matter?

Benoît Mahy (), Francois Rycx, Guillaume Vermeylen () and Mélanie Volral
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Benoît Mahy: University of Mons

No 12795, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper is the first to estimate the impact of a direct measure of firm-level upstreamness on productivity, wage costs and profits (i.e. productivity-wage gaps). To do so, we merged detailed Belgian linked panel data, covering all years from 2002 to 2010, to a unique data set developed by Dhyne et al. (2015), which contains accurate information on the position of (almost) each commercial firm in the value chain at each year. We rely on the methodological framework that has been pioneered by Hellerstein et al. (1999) to estimate dynamic panel data models at the firm level. Our estimates show that if upstreamness increases by one step (that is, by approximately, one standard deviation), productivity rises on average by 5%. They also indicate that productivity gains associated to upstreamness are shared almost equally between wages and profits. However, upstreamness is found to be more beneficial for workers' wages in less competitive environments, where the price-elasticity of demand for firms' products is typically smaller. Overall, these findings are compatible with the assertion that firms should move up the value chain to be more productive and profitable, but also that being higher in the value chain is likely to facilitate firms' control over strategic downstream activities.

Keywords: global value chains; upstreamness; productivity; rent-sharing; linked employer-employee panel data; product market competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D30 D40 F61 J24 J50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2019-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published as 'Productivity and Wage Effects of Firm-level Upstreamness: Evidence from Belgian Linked Panel Data' in: World Economy, 2022, 45 (7), 2222 - 2250

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Working Paper: Productivity, wages and profits: Does firms’ position in the value chain matter? (2018)
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