@incollection{IacovoneBrownCrespietal., author = {Iacovone, Leonardo and Brown, J David and Crespi, Gustavo A and Marcolin, Luca}, title = {Productivity Convergence at the Firm Level: New Evidence from the Americas}, series = {Understanding the Income and Efficiency Gap in Latin America and the Caribbean}, booktitle = {Understanding the Income and Efficiency Gap in Latin America and the Caribbean}, isbn = {978-1-4648-0450-2}, doi = {10.1596/978-1-4648-0450-2_ch5}, publisher = {Hertie School}, pages = {117 -- 186}, abstract = {Uses firm-level data from the manufacturing sector in Colombia, Mexico, and the United States, in the past decade, to investigate the extent to which aggregate productivity growth in the manufacturing sector is driven by growth in productivity at the firm level or by reallocation of employment shares across firms. The evaluation produced results that stress a focus on firm-level productivity growth, as this has contributed the most to overall productivity growth. Reallocation between firms, within sectors, results in a weak force of productivity growth, and reallocation between sectors an even weaker source of growth. Although firms converge toward the domestic frontier with spillovers arising from the growth of the domestic frontier, no convergence occurs with respect to the global frontier. For all countries analyzed, the most important determinant of productivity convergence at the firm level remains innovation effort, measured as the firm-level expenditure shares in innovation and investment in capital equipment.}, language = {en} } @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} }