Distribution Trade Sector Output and Productivity Performance: A Case Study of Singapore and Hong Kong 2001-2008

This paper employs the industry of origin approach to compare value added and productivity of Singapore and Hong Kong's Distribution Trade Sector for the period 2001-2008. The direct comparison between these two economies was motivated by the statements of the Singapore government: Its services sector, especially in Retail Trade, lags behind Hong Kong's productivity levels. The results show that since 2005, Singapore's Distribution performance in terms of labour productivity was below Hong Kong's level, which was largely due to poor performance in its Retail Trade sector arising from an influx of foreign workers. Results from total factor productivity (TFP) between these two economies also suggest that Hong Kong's better performance (since 2005) was largely due to its ability to employ more educated and trained workers with limited use of capital. The results suggest that polices that worked in Hong Kong may not work for Singapore because its population is more diverse which poses a challenge to policy-makers in raising its productivity level.purchasing power parities; distribution trade; wholesale trade; retail trade; total factor productivity; labour productivity

Output and Productivity Comparisons of the Wholesale and Retail Trade Sector: US and Australia, 1991 to 1999

Australia’s value added contribution of the Wholesale and Retail trade has strengthened against sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing. At 1997-98 prices, its value added contribution to GDP during the 1990s was around 10-11%. Agriculture was 3% and mining 7-8%. Manufacturing’s value added contribution fell from 15% to 12%. While performance at the domestic level may seem significant, there is still need to compare this performance with other countries. Hence, this paper will examine the output and productivity performance of the Australian Wholesale and Retail Trade sector with the leading economy, the United States, from 1991 to 1999. The aim of the paper is two-fold. First, the paper is a pioneer in a series which compares the performance of various industries within the service sector between the US and Australia. Second, it introduces a method for derivation of appropriate currency converters or purchasing power parities (PPPs) for quantification of output and productivity at various disaggregated levels. This method is based on the industry-of-origin approach as refined by the International Comparisons of Output and Productivity (ICOP) project based at the University of Groningen.

Productivity, Technical and Efficiency Change in Singapore's Services Sector, 2005 to 2008

The current study was motivated by statements made by the Economic Strategies Committee that Singapore's recent productivity levels in services were well below countries such as the US, Japan and Hong Kong. Massive employment of foreign workers was cited as the reason for poor productivity levels. To shed more light on Singapore's falling productivity, a nonparametric Malmquist productivity index was employed which provides measures of productivity change, technical change and efficiency change. The findings reveal that growth in total factor productivity was attributed to technical change with no improvement in efficiency change. Such results suggest that gains from TFP were input-driven rather than from a 'best-practice' approach such as improvements in operations or better resource allocation.Efficiency, productivity; Malmquist indices; Singapore services

Interstate Comparison of Output and Productivity in the Australian Agricultural Sector, 1991 to 1999

The paper examines the output and productivity performance of the Australian Agriculture sector by state from 1991 to 1999. The aim of the paper is two-fold. First, the paper is a pioneer in a series which compares the performance of each Australian state by sector starting with the Agriculture sector. Second, it introduces the Geary-Khamis (GK) method for derivation of appropriate currency converters or purchasing power parities (PPPs) to enable proper quantification of real output and productivity at the multilateral level. It is essential to use appropriate PPPs as the differences in prices of farm commodities across states pose the problem of aggregation of real output. For the benchmark year 1996-97, gross value of agricultural production reveal that Victoria was 73% of NSW level, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data when price differentials are not taken into consideration. However, when appropriate PPPs were used, results showed that Victoria’s level had gone up to 88% of NSW level. In terms of value added, Victoria’s level with respect to NSW was 89% based on actual values and 106% based on Geary-Khamis PPPs.

Significance of Employing a Multilateral Index Formula for Interstate Comparisons: A Case Study of the Australian Farm Sector

The paper demonstrates the drawbacks on using official data and binary indices when attempting an interstate comparison of output and productivity growth. The use of official data in one’s national currency still requires a numerary currency due to price variations across states. Even with the use of index number formulas, some indices have shown to fail the transitivity property when more than 2 states are concerned. Hence the paper aims to demonstrate the significance of using a multilateral index formula like the Geary-Khamis (GK) method, EKS method and CCD method for derivation of appropriate currency converters or purchasing power parities (PPPs) to enable proper quantification of real output at the multilateral level. Subsequently, the paper demonstrates the variations in results between official aggregates and multilateral aggregates based on the GK method.

Regulation and the New Economy

The fundamental theorem of welfare economics asserts that under conditions of perfect competition Pareto efficiency will obtain. This has provided the conceptual basis for the market failure approach to regulation, which focuses on failure to satisfy the conditions for perfect competition as potentially justifying government intervention in markets. The approach is evaluated in the context of a number of key characteristics of the industries of the New Economy. Three areas of regulatory focus are examined: policy approaches relating to competition, intellectual property, and information privacy. It is apparent that the applicability of the market failure approach is open to question, particularly in regard to competition policy. The exploitation by dominant market players of what may be termed "natural" barriers to entry resulting from some of the characteristic features of the New Economy (scale and scope economies, network effects and consumer lock-in) should be judged in the light of Schumpeterian competition rather than that of neoclassical perfect competition. The difficulty facing regulatory authorities is how to differentiate between situations requiring intervention and those that do not. The discussion of intellectual property highlights the fact that, in general, government intervention is not necessarily the only or even the best solution to instances of market failure. Finally, the case of information privacy illustrates how the spillover effects of regulatory actions in one jurisdiction can impact on other jurisdictions and necessitate coordination in a globalised economy. The need for countries to cooperate and coordinate their policies is perhaps the key conclusion of the analysis.New Economy, regulation, government intervention

Efficiency of Research Performance of Australian Universities: A Reappraisal using a Bootstrap Truncated Regression Approach

The motivation of the study stems from the results reported in the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2010 report. The report showed that only 12 universities performed research at or above international standards, of which, the Group of Eight (G8) universities filled the top eight spots. While performance of universities was based on number of research outputs, total amount of research income and other quantitative indicators, the measure of efficiency or productivity was not considered. The objectives of paper are twofold. First, to provide a review of the research performance of 37 Australian universities using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) bootstrap approach of Simar and Wilson (J Econ, 136:31–64, 2007). Second, to determine sources of productivity drivers by regressing the efficiency scores against a set of environmental variables.Data envelopment analysis, efficiency, universities, bootstrap truncated regression, environmental variables.

Output and Productivity Comparisons of the Transport and Communication Sectors of South Korea and Australia, 1990 to 1998

This paper examines the output and productivity performance of the Transport and Communication sector in South Korea and Australia, from 1990 to 1998. The aim of the paper is two-fold. First, the paper is the first in a series which compares the performance of various industries within the service sector. Second, it introduces a method for derivation of appropriate currency converters or purchasing power parities (PPPs) to enable quantification of output and productivity at various disaggregated levels. This method is based on the industry-of-origin approach as refined by the International Comparisons of Output and Productivity (ICOP) project based at the University of Groningen.

Comparative Analysis of Output and Productivity in the Transport and Communication Sector: South Korea and Australia, 1990 to 1999

This paper examines the output and productivity performance of the Transport and Communication sector in South Korea and Australia, from 1990 to 1999. The aim of the paper is two-fold. First, the paper is the first in a series which compares the performance of various industries within the service sector. Second, it introduces a method for derivation of appropriate currency converters or purchasing power parities (PPPs) to enable quantification of output and productivity at various disaggregated levels. This method is based on the industry-of-origin approach as refined by the International Comparisons of Output and Productivity (ICOP) project based at the University of Groningen.