Analysing the Pattern of Productivity Change in the European Energy Industry

For an industry to succeed in a competitive market, it should continuously take care of not only its stakeholders but also its technical efficiency and productivity. In this paper, data envelopment analysis was combined with Malmquist productivity analysis to investigate the pattern of multifactor productivity changes in the European energy industry over the period from 2005–2016. The results showed that the whole industry was technically inefficient and had large potential for improvement. A slight average increase in productivity that was observed over the studied period proved to be sensitive to the financial and economic situation and equally sensitive to technological and efficiency advances. As for efficiency gains, they reflected the nature of the energy industry, implying that they were due to scale efficiencies rather than human resource improvements. Although technological innovation and the optimal scale of production increased productivity, the slow pace at which this occurred and the negative outlook highlighted by the observed trends call for more serious consideration of the future productivity deployment of the European energy industry, particularly in the context of its decarbonisation, diversification, and modernisation.

Patents in the History of the Semiconductor Industry

Chips can be easily copied and semiconductor firms are not monopolies. Nevertheless, in the semiconductor industry patents protect Ricardian rents against free riding. Ricardian rents—rents wrought by a firm’s differential ability to produce more output or value per unit of input—remunerate the investments in R&D that semiconductor firms make in the expectation of profit. In addition, patents enlarge the set of business models, strategies, and contracts that firms can use to trade. Many practices that emerged over time—for example technical marketing, second sourcing, licensing, trade in intellectual property—and the observed evolution of horizontal and vertical specialization would not have been feasible without patents. Last, patents and Ricardian rents in the semiconductor industry conciliate protracted investments in R&D with exceptionally fast growth of multifactor productivity and falling prices over almost 70 years.

Productivity dispersion in the Italian knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) industry: a multilevel analysis

PurposeThis paper aims to provide an analysis of the productivity evolution of a sample of 18,459 knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) firms operating in Italy over the period 2012–2018. The interaction between productivity heterogeneity firm localization and firm sector of business are also analyzed.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical setting is based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the multifactor productivity index (MPI) and on the multilevel models to investigate if the source of productivity heterogeneity among the Italian KIBS are due to the geographic location and/or to the specific business sectors in which firms operate. Data have been gathered from the AIDA database, which contains financial data of all Italian firms.FindingsThe empirical results show that MPI heterogeneity in the Italian KIBS firms' is sensitive to the regional context in which firms operate to the specific KIBS sector and above all at the interactions arising between region and sector.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to identify the source of productivity dispersion in the Italian KIBS.

Indirect Estimation of the Development of Capital Productivity in the Regions: The Case of Poland

This study introduces a new (adopted) method of indirect estimation of the development of the productivity structure in the regions, which at the same time allows estimation of the contribution resulting from changes within the capital factor. Its theoretical background is built on the principles of growth accounting. Within this framework the study employs an arguable assumption of analogy in development of multifactor productivity of industry between the national and regional level. The literature review and empirical results shows, however, that such an assumption may be correct in some cases. Therefore, the article enhances the existing productivity analysis capabilities at the regional level. Within the aim, this study verifies the potential of applicability of proposed method on the regions of Poland. It uses the measure of symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE) to evaluate the accuracy of method proposed against actual values and the results of two other frequently used methods for disaggregation of capital among the regions in a country. The results indicate that the new method should be more accurate than the methods of regional decomposition of capital-based on value added, and flows investment accumulation. In fact, it seems to be quite correct especially in the industries of wholesale & retail trade, transport & storage, real estates, health & social work, and manufacturing. On the other hand, it is likely incorrect in the industries of information & communication activities, finance & insurance, and administrative & support activities. In general, the method seems to be more accurate for larger industries and vice versa. Higher precision is also observed for industries where capital demand is clearly increasing. Similarly, the method is more accurate in industries where none of the regions are more specialized and vice versa.

ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITY: FACTOR APPROACHES

The article focuses on economic productivity and have stressed the theory of marginal utility (productivity). In modern researches such aggregate indicators as a total factor productivity and a multifactor productivity prevail. Total Factor Productivity is measured by combining the effects of all there sources used in the production of goods and services (labour, capital, materials, energy, etc.) and dividing it into the output. Multifactor productivity (MFP) is the ratio of total output to a subset of inputs. A subset of inputs might consist of only labour and materials or it could include capital. MFP is the residual contribution to output growth of an industry or economy after calculating the contribution from all its factor inputs. The OECD methodology examines key single-factor (aggregated) indicators of labour and capital productivity, considering total output and costs and, most importantly, the value added, which reflects the real increase in the welfare of the nation.

Measuring and Analyzing Income and Wealth in CIS Countries and Eastern Europe

Intensive discussions on a wide range of topics took place at the conference which was focused on measuring income and wealth in CIS countries and Eastern Europe, organized by IARIW and Higher School of Economics in Moscow in September 2019. The article deals with some topics of the conference.As the macroeconomic analysis shows, the impact of globalization on the distribution of global income is one of the factors changing the global centers of power. Research on multifactor productivity, the slowdown of which is observed according to some estimates during two recent decades, becomes more important. The development of tools using the purchasing power parities provides additional capacity in assessing the stratification of economies and helps expand macroeconomic estimates and analysis’ base.Along with the macroeconomic topics, the article deals with the key points of discussion on measuring income. One of the focus areas today is assessing poverty based on the multidimensional approach which allows enhancing substantively the poverty analysis. While considering the income stratification, the attention in the article is also paid to the definition of the middle class basing on the expenditures’ pattern, in addition to a standard definition based on the income level.