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THE ROLE OF RESOURCE MISALLOCATION IN CROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCES IN MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2016

Robert Inklaar ,
Addisu A. Lashitew  and
Marcel P. Timmer
Robert Inklaar*
Affiliation:
Groningen Growth and Development Centre
Addisu A. Lashitew
Affiliation:
Rotterdam School of Management
Marcel P. Timmer
Affiliation:
Groningen Growth and Development Centre
*
Address correspondence to Robert Inklaar, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, the Netherlands; e-mail: R.C.Inklaar@rug.nl.
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Abstract

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Misallocation of resources across firms leads to lower aggregate productivity. In this paper, we provide new estimates of manufacturing productivity differences across countries and establish by how much they would be reduced if such misallocation were eliminated. Using World Bank survey data for formal manufacturing firms in 52 low- and middle-income countries, we show that manufacturing productivity would increase by an average of 62%, but productivity gaps relative to the United States would remain large. We also find that lower-income countries do not have more to gain from reducing misallocation, as efficiency of resource allocation is uncorrelated with income levels.

Keywords

ProductivityResource AllocationCross-Country Comparisons
Type
Articles
Information
Macroeconomic Dynamics , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , April 2017 , pp. 733 - 756
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Footnotes

We would like to thank the editor and two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions. We would also like to thank participants at a seminar at the University of Bielefeld and at the IARIW conference in Rotterdam, 2014, for helpful comments. Lashitew would like to thank the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for financial support.

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