The New Economy in Europe, 1992-2001

economic growth, productivity growth, Europe, information and communication technologies, total factor productivity

Is Growth an Information Technology Story in Europe Too?

While the return to growth in the US is largely credited to the rapid spreading of information technology, a key policy concern everywhere, and notably in Europe, is whether and when the US economic boom will extend abroad, and what role new technologies are about to play. In this paper, I collect and supplement data on the extent and the contribution to growth of ‘new economy’ activities in Europe, and in a sample of OECD countries at large, in the 1990s. Available evidence indicates that capital accumulation in information technologies did make a contribution to growth in the EU too, though not equally everywhere. The contribution of new technologies was substantial in the UK and the Netherlands, and rapidly increasing over time in Finland, Ireland and Denmark. These were also the fast EU growing countries in the 1990s. New technologies contributed less in France, Germany, Belgium and Sweden, and marginally in Italy and Spain. Most of these countries were also ‘slow growers’. I conclude that the growth gaps between the EU and the US, as well as within the EU, can (also) be associated to the diverse pace of adoption of new technologies across countries.

Age, technology and labour Costs

Is the process of workforce aging a burden or a blessing for the firm? Our paper seeks to answer this question by providing evidence on the ageproductivity and age-earnings profiles for a sample of plants in three manufacturing industries (“forest”, “industrial machinery” and “electronics”) in Finland. Our main result is that exposure to rapid technological and managerial changes does make a difference for plant productivity, less so for wages. In electronics, the Finnish industry undergoing a major technological and managerial shock in the 1990s, the response of productivity to age-related variables is first sizably positive and then becomes sizably negative as one looks at plants with higher average seniority and experience. This declining part of the curve is not there either for the forest industry or for industrial machinery. It is not there either for wages in electronics. These conclusions survive when a host of other plausible productivity determinants (notably, education and plant vintage) are included in the analysis. We conclude that workforce aging may be a burden for firms in high-tech industries and less so in other industries.Aging, technology, TFP, wage determination, Finland, new economy, growth

Experience, Innovation and Productivity - Empirical Evidence from Italy's Slowdown

We investigate the role of workers’ and managerial experience as a determinant of firm innovation and productivity in a sample of Italian manufacturing firms. A high share of temporary – thus un-experienced - workers is associated to low innovation and productivity. The effect of managerial experience measured by age on firm performance depends instead on the type of firm: high age of managers and board members is bad for innovation and productivity growth, while costs and benefits of old managerial age cancel out for non-innovative firms.firm productivity, innovation, managerial experience, temporary jobs

Italy’s decline: getting the facts right

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.Productivity growth, Productivity slowdown, TFP, decline, Italy

Off-shoring and productivity growth in the Italian manufacturing industries

We employ input-output tables to study the relation between off-shoring and productivity growth in the Italian manufacturing industries in 1995-2003. Our results indicate that not all types of off-shoring are positively related to productivity growth. In particular, the international outsourcing 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 disappears when our direct measure of off-shoring is replaced with the Feenstra-Hanson measure employed in other studies.International trade, Productivity growth; offshoring; Italian economy

The twin effects of globalization

Employees of"globalized"firms face a riskier, but potentially more rewarding, menu of labor market outcomes. The authors document this neglected tradeoff of globalization for a sample of Indian manufacturing firms. On the one hand, the employees of firms subject to foreign competition face a more uncertain stream of earnings and riskier employment prospects. On the other hand, they enjoy a more rapid career growth and have more opportunities to train and upgrade their skills. The negative uncertainty costs and the positive incentive effects of globalization are thus twin to each other. Concentrating on just one side of the coin gives a misleading picture of globalization.Small Scale Enterprise,Environmental Economics&Policies,Microfinance,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Microfinance,Private Participation in Infrastructure,Small Scale Enterprise

The Twin Effects of Globalization - Evidence from a Sample of Indian Manufacturing Firms

Employees of globalized firms face a riskier menu of labor market outcomes. They face a more uncertain stream of earnings and riskier employment prospects. However, they may also have stronger incentives to train and upgrade their skills and/or may benefit from more rapid careers. Hence, the costs of uncertainty and the benefits of skill upgrading associated with globalization may be twin to each other. We provide statistical evidence of this so far neglected trade-off for a sample of Indian manufacturing firms.globalization, uncertainty, training, labor markets, India

The conjugative system encoded by the integrative conjugative element ICEclc in Pseudomonas putida

Integrative and conjugative elements (ICE) are a widespread class of mobile genetic elements, which play an important role for bacterial evolution and adaptation to new niches. ICE transfer between cells requires a multi-subunit protein complex known as type IV secretion system (T4SS) which is usually self-encoded. Although several T4SS have been discovered and characterized in the years, they mostly belong to mobile plasmids and ICE-encoded T4SS remain severely understudied. Here we focused on the T4SS encoded by the ICEclc element first found in Pseudomonas knackmussii B13 in two identical copies. The core region of ICEclc, which includes the genetic locus encoding for the T4SS, is conserved among several β- and γ-proteobacteria, thus understanding peculiarities about this conjugation system would be representative for a large number of mobile elements. In this work we mainly focused on the extensive characterization of the ICEclc T4SS genetic locus with a combination of ‘in silico’, molecular biology and microscopy approaches. The first chapter introduces the theme of horizontal gene transfer with a closer look at integrative and conjugative elements characteristics, evolutionary importance and DNA conjugation mechanism with in depth description of the up to date knowledge in T4SS classification and structural composition. In the second chapter we present the general characterization of the 24 genes of the ICEclc T4SS locus. With bioinformatics analysis we inferred homologies between ICE encoded and known T4SS components. Single gene knockouts of 22 out of the 24 open reading frames were used to understand their essentiality for ICE transfer. To better understand T4SS localization at single cell level, we fused nine predicted T4SS subunits to fluorescent proteins and studied their cellular localization. By coupling fluorescent labelling and gene deletions we showed possible interactions between several T4SS subunits and we proposed a dynamic model of T4SS assembly. The third chapter focuses on the characterization of the conjugative pilus, one of the four major protein subassemblies of T4SS. With protein 3D structure prediction, we identified the gene encoding the pilin in ICEclc, being orf66625. With a microscopy technique based on chemical labelling of cysteine residues we could observe the conjugative pilus in vivo. In addition, we used cryo-CLEM to gain detailed morphological information on this cellular appendage. The fourth chapter presents a study on the dynamic behaviour of two ICEclc T4SS subunits. Here we focused on IceB7 and IceB4 located in the outer and inner-membrane respectively. With high resolution confocal microscopy we followed the localization of the two labelled subunits overtime both in presence and absence of recipient cells and we inferred their dynamics with custom made image analysis pipelines. Our results suggest a highly stable IceB7, which is one of the core members of the outer membrane assembly and a highly dynamic IceB4, suggesting that the ATPase of the T4SS are not constitutively docked to the conjugative machinery and that they might do so only when ICE DNA is about to be transferred. Finally, we conclude with a general discussion on the outcomes and relevance of this work and the perspective for future studies. -- Les éléments intégratifs et conjugatifs (ICE) constituent une classe répandue d'éléments génétiques mobiles qui jouent un rôle important dans l'évolution bactérienne et l'adaptation à de nouvelles niches. Le transfert des ICE nécessite le contact entre deux bactéries et la mise en place d’un complexe protéique reliant les deux cellules appelé système de sécrétion de type IV (T4SS). Bien que plusieurs T4SS appartenant à des familles distinctes aient été découverts et caractérisés au cours des dernières décennies, la plupart appartiennent à des plasmides mobiles et les T4SS codés par les ICE restent gravement sous-étudiés. Dans cette étude, nous nous sommes concentrés sur le T4SS codé par l'élément ICEclc, initialement découvert en deux copies identiques intégrées dans le chromosome de Pseudomonas knackmussii B13. La région centrale d’ICEclc, qui inclut le locus génétique codant le T4SS, est conservée chez plusieurs éléments apparentés présents dans le génome de protéobactéries des groupes β et γ. Ainsi, la compréhension des particularités de ce système de conjugaison serait représentatif d'un grand nombre d'éléments mobiles. Dans ce travail, nous avons focalisé notre attention sur la caractérisation approfondie du locus génétique du T4SS d’ICEclc en utilisant une combinaison d'approches bioinformatiques, génétiques, et microscopiques. Le premier chapitre introduit le thème du transfert horizontal de gènes en se penchant sur les caractéristiques des éléments intégratifs et conjugatifs, leur importance évolutive et le mécanisme de transfert d'ADN par conjugaison, avec une description approfondie des connaissances actuelles sur la classification et la composition structurelle du T4SS. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous présentons la caractérisation générale des 24 gènes du locus T4SS d'ICEclc. Grâce à une analyse bioinformatique des homologies entre les composants du T4SS codés par ICEclc et d’autres déjà connus, nous avons inféré des fonctions aux produits de la majorité des gènes du locus T4SS. 22 variants d’ICEclc délétés pour 1 des 24 gènes codant des sous-unités putatives du T4SS ont été utilisés pour comprendre la nécessité de chaque sous-unité pour le transfert de l'ICE. Afin de mieux comprendre la dynamique de mise en place et la localisation des différents parties du T4SS au niveau de la cellule individuelle, nous avons fusionné neuf sous-unités prédites du T4SS à des protéines fluorescentes, et étudié leur localisation cellulaire par microscopie à épifluorescence. En associant le marquage fluorescent et les délétions géniques, nous avons montré des interactions possibles entre plusieurs sous-unités du T4SS et avons proposé un modèle dynamique de l'assemblage du T4SS. Le troisième chapitre se concentre sur la caractérisation du pilus de conjugaison, l'un des quatre sous-ensembles protéiques du T4SS. Une analyse bioinformatique reposant sur la prédiction de la structure tridimensionnelle des protéines a permis d’identifier le gène orf66625 codant la piline (sous unités protéique majeure du pilus) chez ICEclc. Grâce à une technique de microscopie basée sur le marquage chimique des cystéines, nous avons pu observer le pilus conjugatif in vivo. De plus, nous avons obtenu des informations morphologiques détaillées sur cet appendice cellulaire grâce à une technique spécifique de microscopie électronique, appelée cryo-CLEM. Le quatrième chapitre présente une étude sur la dynamique d’IceB7 et IceB4, deux sous-unités du T4SS d'ICEclc situées dans la membrane externe et la membrane interne respectivement. Grace à la microscopie confocale à haute résolution, nous avons suivi la localisation des deux sous-unités au fil du temps, en présence et en absence de cellules receveuses, et analysé leur dynamique à l'aide de « pipelines » d'analyse d'images développés par nos soins. D’une part, nos résultats suggèrent qu’IceB7 est hautement stable, et est l'un des membres centraux de l'assemblage du complexe dans la membrane externe. D’autre part, IceB4 est hautement dynamique, ce qui suggère que cette protéine n'est pas constitutivement ancrée à la machinerie de transfert, et pourrait l’être uniquement lorsque l'ADN de l'ICE est sur le point d'être transféré. Enfin, ce manuscrit se termine par une discussion générale sur les résultats et la pertinence de ce travail, ainsi que les perspectives pour des études futures