Measuring the sources of economic growth in the EU with parametric and non-parametric methods

Krasnopjorovs, Olegs (2012): Measuring the sources of economic growth in the EU with parametric and non-parametric methods. Published in: Journal of Economics and Management Research , Vol. 1, (1 December 2012): pp. 106-122.

Abstract

The standard neoclassical growth accounting (parametric) framework serves to explain only a minor part of labour productivity growth and its cross-country differences, thus implying an important role (as yet unexplained) for the Solow Residual or the Total Factor Productivity (TFP). However, the increased application of non-parametric methods in growth accounting, and in particular with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), has revealed that, along with the direct effect on output, a higher capital stock will have a substantial indirect effect that has been disregarded by the neoclassical framework. In line with an appropriate technology model (Basu, Weil, 1998), a higher capital stock allows a country to use a better technology.

This paper extends the evidence regarding the relevance of an appropriate technology view to those Eastern European countries that were not previously included in a growth accounting investigation using non-parametric methods. It also reveals that the appropriate technology view is useful in explaining labour productivity growth and its cross-country differences within the EU. Furthermore, the results are robustly subject to assumptions on capital formation and on whether labour productivity has been adjusted with regard to the cross-country differences in employment structure by the various sectors and by natural resource endowment. Given both the direct and indirect effects of capital accumulation, it might prove to be a much more important tool for determining labour productivity growth than is usually considered within a neoclassical framework.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: growth accounting, development accounting, Data Envelopment Analysis, efficiency, appropriate technology, total factor productivity
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General > C14 - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E22 - Investment ; Capital ; Intangible Capital ; Capacity; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences ; Diffusion Processes; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O47 - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth ; Aggregate Productivity ; Cross-Country Output Convergence; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q3 - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation > Q32 - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development

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