Dual Economies and International Total Factor Productivity Differences

Areendam Chanda and Carl-Johan Dalgaard

Departmental Working Papers from Department of Economics, Louisiana State University

Abstract: This paper shows that a significant part of measured total factor productivity (TFP) differences across countries is attributable not to technological factors that affect the entire economy neutrally, but rather, to variations in the structural composition of economies. In particular, the allocation of scarce inputs between agriculture and non-agriculture is important. We provide a framework which maps the composition of the economy to measured aggregate TFP. A decomposition analysis suggests that as much as 85 percent of the international variation in TFP can be attributed to the composition of output. Estimation exercises indicate that recent findings of the conduciveness of good institutions, and, to some extent trade, on levels of TFP, may be thus explained.

Date: 2005-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.lsu.edu/business/economics/files/workingpapers/pap05_11.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Dual Economies and International Total Factory Productivity Differences (2005)
Working Paper: Dual Economies and International Total Factor Productivity Differences (2003)
Working Paper: Dual Economies and International Total Factor Productivity Differences (2003)
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:lsu:lsuwpp:2005-11

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Departmental Working Papers from Department of Economics, Louisiana State University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().