@article{IacovoneCrespiBowenetal., author = {Iacovone, Leonardo and Crespi, Gustavo and Bowen, J David and Marcolin, Luca}, title = {Decomposing firm-level productivity growth and assessing its determinants: evidence from the Americas}, series = {The Journal of Technology Transfer}, volume = {43}, journal = {The Journal of Technology Transfer}, number = {6}, doi = {10.1007/s10961-018-9678-0}, pages = {1571 -- 1606}, abstract = {This paper provides novel empirical evidence on productivity growth in the manufacturing sector in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Relying on plant-level data, we first decompose productivity and productivity growth into plant-level growth and market allocation forces. While the average productivity of the survivors is higher than the overall contribution of reallocation forces, during recessions the inverse is true and reallocation gives a positive, albeit small, contribution to aggregate productivity growth. Next we analyze how policy measures can determine allocative efficiency levels and growth, and find important scope for action on education, financial regulation, and structural reforms.}, language = {en} } @article{IacovoneCrespi, author = {Iacovone, Leonardo and Crespi, Gustavo A}, title = {Catching up with the technological frontier: Micro-level evidence on growth and convergence}, series = {Industrial and Corporate Change}, volume = {10}, journal = {Industrial and Corporate Change}, number = {6}, doi = {10.1093/icc/dtq057}, pages = {2073 -- 2096}, abstract = {In this article, we study how firm heterogeneity influences productivity catching up using plant-level data from Mexico. The article addresses three issues: first, it evaluates the process of convergence towards the global versus the local technological frontier in a middle-income country such as Mexico. Second, it systematically evaluates the role of technological efforts in determining the speed of convergence towards each of these technological frontiers. Third, it assesses the role of openness and trade integration in determining the speed of convergence and presents a horse race between integration and technological effort in explaining the determinants of heterogeneity in influencing the process of convergence toward both the domestic and the global technological frontier. Our results suggest that building firm-level technological capabilities is important for catching up with the global frontier. A policy focused on trade alone will facilitate convergence towards the best technological practices available locally, but it will fall short of encouraging convergence with the global frontier.}, language = {en} }