Global Productivity

PART I Productivity: Trends and Explanations

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Global Productivity

Published on Jun 8, 2021

"The COVID-19 pandemic struck the global economy after a decade that featured a broad-based slowdown in productivity growth. Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies presents the first comprehensive analysis of the evolution and drivers of productivity growth, examines the effects of COVID-19 on productivity, and discusses a wide range of policies needed to rekindle productivity growth. The book also provides a far-reaching data set of multiple measures of productivity for up to 164 advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies, and it introduces a new sectoral database of productivity. The World Bank has created an extraordinary book on productivity, covering a large group of countries and using a wide variety of data sources. There is an emphasis on emerging and developing economies, whereas the prior literature has concentrated on developed economies. The book seeks to understand growth patterns and quantify the role of (among other things) the reallocation of factors, technolo

Articles inside

Global Productivity

Articles inside

Annex 7B Marginal productivity gap

References

Annex 7A Data and methodology

References

Sectoral productivity gaps

Annex 7C Firm TFP data, estimates, and methodology

Annex 6C Commodity-driven productivity developments: Methodology

Conclusion and policy implications

Drivers of productivity: Technology vs. demand shocks

Annex 6A SVAR identification of technology drivers of productivity

PART III Technological Change and Sectoral Shifts

Effects of demand shocks

Figure 6.1 Global labor productivity surges and declines

Sub-Saharan Africa

Figure 5.22 Factors supporting productivity growth in MNA

Figure 5.19 Drivers of productivity growth in LAC

South Asia

Conclusion

Figure 5.13 Drivers of productivity growth in ECA

Middle East and North Africa

Latin America and the Caribbean

Figure 5.12 Drivers of productivity growth in ECA in regional comparison

Europe and Central Asia

Figure 5.7 Drivers of productivity growth in EAP

PART II Regional Dimensions of Productivity

Sources of, and bottlenecks to, regional productivity growth

Figure 5.1 Evolution of regional productivity in EMDE regions

East Asia and Pacific

References

Evolution of productivity across regions

Annex 4F Productivity measurement: PPP vs. market exchange rates

Annex 4C Beta-convergence testing

Figure 4.4 Convergence club memberships

Annex 4D Estimating convergence clubs: Commonalities in productivity levels

Testing for convergence and its pace

Conclusion and policy implications

Convergence clubs

Annex 3B Robustness

Conclusion

Figure 3.8 Episodes across different types of events

Annex 3A Data, sources, and definitions

How has productivity convergence evolved?

Figure 3.4 Episodes of war

What policies can mitigate the effects of adverse events?

Figure 3.5 Correlations between war frequency and productivity growth

Figure B3.1.1 Severity of pandemics, epidemics, and climate disasters

Figure B3.1.3 Impact of epidemics

Annex 2A Partial correlations

Figure 3.2 Episodes of natural disaster

Box 3.1 How do epidemics affect productivity?

Adverse events: Literature and stylized facts

Conclusion

Figure 2.13 Developments in financial and government technology

Figure 2.12 EMDE infrastructure and education gaps

Policy priorities

Figure 2.11 Post-GFC slowdown of the drivers of productivity growth

References

Analyzing the effects of drivers

Developments in drivers of productivity

Figure 2.1 Innovation

Box 2.1 Review of recent firm-level total factor productivity literature

Summary of stylized facts

Long-run drivers

Box 1.1 Productivity: Conceptual considerations and measurement challenges

Conclusion

Annex 1A Cyclical and technology-driven labor productivity developments

Figure B1.1.1 Labor productivity decomposition and natural capital in EMDEs

References

Key findings and policy messages

Future research directions

Synopsis

PART I Productivity: Trends and Explanations

Evolution of productivity

Sources of the slowdown in labor productivity growth after the GFC

Implications of COVID-19 for productivity