This article provides guidance to prudent use of the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) in analyses of international trade. The WIOD contains annual time-series of world input–output tables and factor requirements covering the period from 1995 to 2011. Underlying concepts, construction methods and data sources are introduced, pointing out particular strengths and weaknesses. We illustrate its usefulness by analyzing the geographical and factorial distribution of value added in global automotive production and show increasing fragmentation, both within and across regions. Possible improvements and extensions to the data are discussed.

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An Illustrated User Guide to the World Input-Output Database : the Case of Global Automotive Production

This book opens a fresh chapter in the debate on local enterprise clusters and their strategies for upgrading in the global economy. The authors employ a novel conceptual framework in their research on industrial clusters in Europe, Latin America and Asia and provide new perspectives and insights for researchers and policymakers alike.

Governance in global value chains

Innovation in SMEs exhibits some peculiar features that most traditional indicators of innovation activity do not capture Therefore, in this paper, we develop a structural model of innovation which incorporates information on innovation success from firm surveys along with the usual R&D expenditures and productivity measures We then apply the model to data on Italian SMEs from the “Survey on Manufacturing Firms” conducted by Mediocredito-Capitalia covering the period 1995-2003 The model is estimated in steps, following the logic of firms’ decisions and outcomes We find that international competition fosters R&D intensity, especially for high-tech firms Firm size, R&D intensity, along with investment in equipment enhances the likelihood of having both process and product innovation Both these kinds of innovation have a positive impact on firm’s productivity, especially process innovation Among SMEs, larger and older firms seem to be less productive

/pdf/innovation-and-productivity-in-smes-empirical-evidence-for-11nyu56d1e.pdf

Innovation and Productivity in SMEs - Empirical Evidence for Italy

Innovation in SMEs exhibits some peculiar features that most traditional indicators of innovation activity do not capture Therefore, in this paper, we develop a structural model of innovation that incorporates information on innovation success from firm surveys along with the usual R&D expenditures and productivity measures We then apply the model to data on Italian SMEs from the “Survey on Manufacturing Firms” conducted by Mediocredito-Capitalia covering the period 1995–2003 The model is estimated in steps, following the logic of firms’ decisions and outcomes We find that international competition fosters R&D intensity, especially for high-tech firms Firm size and R&D intensity, along with investment in equipment, enhances the likelihood of having both process and product innovation Both these kinds of innovation have a positive impact on firm’s productivity, especially process innovation Among SMEs, larger and older firms seem to be less productive

/pdf/innovation-and-productivity-in-smes-empirical-evidence-for-3kwfj88pbf.pdf

Innovation and productivity in SMEs: empirical evidence for Italy

This paper describes a real-time, quarterly growth-accounting database for the U.S. business sector. The data on inputs, including capital, are used to produce a quarterly series on total factor productivity (TFP). In addition, the dataset implements an adjustment for variations in factor utilization—labor effort and the workweek of capital. The utilization adjustment follows Basu, Fernald, and Kimball (BFK, 2006) as updated in Basu, Fernald, Fisher, and Kimball (BFFK, 2013). Using relative prices and input-output information, the series are also decomposed into separate TFP and utilization-adjusted TFP series for equipment investment (including consumer durables) and "consumption" (defined as business output less equipment and consumer durables).

/pdf/a-quarterly-utilization-adjusted-series-on-total-factor-3f5x798d4y.pdf

A Quarterly, Utilization-Adjusted Series on Total Factor Productivity

This paper looks at the channels through which intangible assets affect productivity growth. The econometric analysis exploits a new data set on intangible investment (INTAN-Invest) in conjunction with EUKLEMS productivity estimates for 10 EU member states from 1998 to 2007. We find that (a) the output elasticity of intangible capital depends upon ICT intensity, consistent with complementarities between ICT and intangible capital; (b) non-R&D intangible capital has a higher estimated output elasticity than its factor share, as does (c) an index of labour composition. The last two findings are consistent with growth spillovers from investments in knowledge-based/intangible capital and skills.

/pdf/knowledge-spillovers-ict-and-productivity-growth-327lbcg4hp.pdf

Knowledge spillovers, ICT and productivity growth

We study the relation between the off-shoring of intermediates and services and productivity growth in the Italian manufacturing industries in 1995-2003. Our results indicate that the off-shoring of intermediates within the same industry ("narrow off-shoring") is beneficial for productivity growth, while the off-shoring of services is not. We also find that the way in which off-shoring is measured may matter considerably. The positive relation between off-shoring of intermediates and productivity growth is there with our direct measures based on input-output data but disappears when either a broad measure or the Feenstra-Hanson off-shoring measure employed in other studies are used instead.

Off-Shoring and Productivity Growth in the Italian Manufacturing Industries

This paper sets out theory and measurement of how intangible investment might capture innovation and what data on intangibles look like for the EU, Japan, and the US. We also look at complementarities between information and communications technology (ICT) and intangibles, spillovers from intangibles to growth, and policy implications. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.

Innovation and intangible investment in Europe, Japan, and the United States

The Italian economy is often said to be on a declining path. In this paper, we document that: (i) Italy's current decline is a labor productivity problem (ii) the labor productivity slowdown stems from declining productivity growth in all industries but utilities (with manufacturing contributing for about one half of the reduction) and diminished interindustry reallocation of workers from agriculture to market services; (iii) the labor productivity slowdown has been mostly driven by declining TFP, with roughly unchanged capital deepening. The only mild decline of capital deepening is due to the rise in the value added share of capital that counteracted declining capital accumulation.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID871039_code356686.pdf?abstractid=871039&mirid=2

Italy's Decline: Getting the Facts Right

This paper uses a new cross-country cross-industry dataset on investment in tangible and intangible assets for 18 European countries and the US.  We set out a framework for measuring intangible investment and capital stocks and their effect on output, inputs and total factor productivity. The analysis provides evidence on the diffusion of intangible investment across Europe and the US over the years 2000-2013 and offers growth accounting evidence before and after the Great Recession in 2008-2009. Our major findings are the following. First, tangible investment fell massively during the Great Recession and has hardly recovered, whereas intangible investment has been relatively resilient and recovered fast in the US but lagged behind in the EU. Second, the sources of growth analysis including only national account intangibles (software, R&D, mineral exploration and artistic originals), suggest that capital deepening is the main driver of growth, with tangibles and intangibles accounting for 80% and 20% in the EU while both account for 50% in the US, over 2000-2013. Extending the asset boundary to the intangible assets not included in the national accounts (Corrado, Hulten and Sichel (2005)) makes capital deepening increase. The contribution of tangibles is reduced both in the EU and the US (60% and 40% respectively) while intangibles account for a larger share (40% in EU and 60% in the US). Then, our analysis shows that since the Great Recession, the slowdown in labour productivity growth has been driven by a decline in TFP growth with relatively a minor role for tangible and intangible capital. Finally, we document a significant correlation between stricter employment protection rules and less government investment in R&D, and a lower ratio of intangible to tangible investment.

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/149979/1/877829535.pdf

Cecilia Jona-Lasinio

Papers

Knowledge spillovers, ICT and productivity growth

Off-Shoring and Productivity Growth in the Italian Manufacturing Industries

Innovation and intangible investment in Europe, Japan, and the United States

Italy's Decline: Getting the Facts Right

Intangible investment in the EU and US before and since the Great Recession and its contribution to productivity growth