Search

A parametric framework based on cost function estimation is used to examine total factor productivity in Spain's private sector. It is posited that the omission of infrastructures leads to overestimation of actual technological progress. Cyclical behavior is also examined.

Research indicates that northeastern Greece has undergone a significant transformation in both production and consumption between 1980 and 1997. Changes in technical coefficients was less important than final demand effects on the region's gross production. Future trends are discussed.

The paper uses a structural time series model to reconsider growth in industrial output in 19th-century Europe. The approach is based on an unobserved components methodology in which there is no ex-ante specification of dates at which the trend is hypothesized to have changed and both trend and cycle are stochastic. We find that trend growth was variable over time in several cases but in general was less volatile than has been claimed and also that in general these times series of industrial output are difference rather than trend stationary.

A study was conducted to create a new Malmquist index approach and to decompose changing efficiency rates into a contribution from environmental factors. It is argued that productivity measures that ignore environmental effects may give misleading information on total productivity growth.