Unraveling the Origins of EU Countries Productivity Growth - Evidence on R&D and Competition from Cross-Country Industry Analysis

Over the last two decades EU countries experienced diverging productivity growthdevelopments. By examining the sources of EU countries growth drivers on the sectorallevel, the paper takes a new look on the influence of innovations. While standard neoclassicalNon-ICT capital deepening turns out the major contributor to EU productivitygrowth, detail industry analysis reveals that growth in innovation stocks via increasedR&D in specialized and science-based industries spurred productivity growth as well.But those effects are only found for Nordic and Western Continental EU countries,while others are lacking such effects. Moreover, these specialized and science-basedindustries experienced strong innovation and productivity growth by decreases in competition,thereby favoring Schumpeterian growth arguments for highly dynamic sectors.Productivity growth, market structure, competition, innovation, R&D, panel data, industry analysis

Institutions and Innovations as Sources of Productivity Growth Cross-Country Evidence

The investigation of the determinants of economic growth plays an important role forour understanding of the sources of cross-country income differences. This paper analyzesthe effects of institutions and innovations on country productivity growth. The empiricalevidence shows that institutions and innovations matter, in particular for human capitalefficiency. Without controlling for endogeneity the effect of innovations turns significantonly when aggregate institutions indexes or human capital efficiency are included.When controlling for endogeneity innovations become insignificant, but more institutionalvariables become relevant. Under robustness checks innovations indeed have a directeffect on country productivity growth moderated by a country’s human capital efficiency.Allowing for three alternative institutional variables does not change the effects of theinstitutional variables of interest.Productivity growth, institutions, information and communication technology, research and development, panel regressions

ICT Intermediates, Growth and Productivity SpilloversEvidence from Comparison of Growth Effects inGerman and US Manufacturing Sectors

Recent pre-crisis growth accounting exercises attribute strong productivity growth toincreased investments in information and communication technologies (ICT), especiallyduring the mid-1990s. EU-wide stylized facts about a growing US–EU productivity gapare confirmed for Germany, particularly showing no substantially economy-wide effectsfrom ICT for German sectors. Tracing the effect from ICT during the period 1991–2005,this study takes a different view by expanding the concept of value added to gross output,additionally including different types of intermediate inputs. The findings suggest thatimported intermediate inputs played a more dominating role in Germany than in the US,particularly imported non-ICT and ICT materials, although domestically-produced ICTmaterials were important as well. In the US, main driving forces were domesticallyproducednon-ICT services and ICT materials, even though imported ICT materialswere on the upraise post 1995. Moreover, there were decisive differences is countries’TFP growth rates with about twice the size in the US. According to robust econometricanalysis there have been strong spillover effects from increasing domestically-producedICT materials in German TFP growth, while for the US TFP growth originated fromincreasing imported ICT materials. It will be argued that these different productivityeffects stem from different functions of ICT in the production process. However, TFPgrowth differentials between Germany and the US during 1991 to 2000 are explained toa great extent by strong US TFP growth in the Electrical & Electronic Machinery sector.Industry productivity growth, information and communication technology, intermediate inputs, growth accounting, technology spillovers

The Economic Impact of Capital-Skill Complementarities in German and US Industries Productivity Growth and the New Economy

US labor productivity in ICT-skill intensive industries experienced tremendousincreases in post–1995 trend growth compared to Germany, while other (non-ICT-skillintensive) industries showed similar growth trends in both countries. Examining thesource of industry productivity growth in German ICT-skill intensive sectors, there is noempirical evidence on the influence of ICT-skill complementarities; rather was productivitygrowth of German Motor Vehicles & Other Transports driven by Non-ICT-skillcomplementarities. In case of the US two ICT-skill intensive sectors, Office Machinery &Electronic Equipment and Motor Vehicles & Other Transport, were found to haveexperienced strong productivity growth via ICT-skill complementarities. These findingsshed light on varying sectoral complementarities between physical and human capitaland show a decisive disparity in the source of German-US productivity differentials inthe goods-producing sector during the New Economy. Such differentials originatedfrom a substantial dissimilarity in production processes as well as from higher ICTintensity and skill endowment in the US.Industry productivity growth, heterogeneous labor, capital-skill complementarity, information and communication technology

Germany’s Continued Productivity Slump: An Industry Analysis

US productivity growth surged twice post 1995 and post 2000. In contrast Germany registered two successive productivity reductions during that same period of time. Previous analysis of the post-2000 decline has been limited, however, by the short time series of the available data. In this paper we extend the Ifo Industry Growth Accounting Database that provides detailed industry-level investment information up to 2004. While much attention has focused on the reduction in German labor hours, our post-2000 data shows that a fledgling recovery in German non-ICT investment was offset by a widespread collapse in German total factor productivity. Almost half of German industries (accounting for over 45 percent of German output) did not experience positive TFP growth post 2000. Industries that constitute over a quarter of Germany’s value-added exhibited negative labor productivity growth during the same period. The negative German productivity trend is thus continuing, which accelerates the country’s departure from the productivity frontier.Growth accounting, industry productivity analysis, information and communication technology

The Ifo Industry Growth Accounting Database

In this paper we present a new database that allows deep industry-level growth accounting from 1991–2003. The database allows for the first complete analysis of the German industry performance drivers based on the contributions of 12 asset types in 52 different industries. The industry sources of productivity and output growth are crucial to the understanding of the transformation of the German economy from manufacturing to information technology and service industries. The database enables researchers to develop an adequate picture of the sources of growth using standard growth accounting techniques. We formally document the new data series and its origins, with special focus on the capital stock and capital service data.growth accounting, industry productivity analysis

Der deutsche Produktivitätsabschwung: Ursachenforschung auf Branchenebene

Seit 2005 untersucht das ifo Institut die Determinanten der deutschen Produktivitätsschwäche. Hierzu wurde eine Datenbank eingerichtet. Sie stellt breit gefächerte Informationen zu Investitionen und Kapitaldienstleistungen auf Branchenebene zur Verfügung, wodurch eine Unterteilung in IT-produzierende, IT-nutzende und nicht-IT-intensive Wirtschaftszweige möglich ist. Die Angaben zu Softwareinvestitionen beruhen, im Gegensatz zu anderen Datenbanken, nicht auf Schätzungen, sondern auf Studien und Umfragen des ifo Instituts. Und die Datenbank liefert branchenspezifische Zeitreihen zur Bruttowertschöpfung, zu qualitätsadjustierten Arbeitsstunden und zum technologischen Wandel. Die Angaben der ifo Produktivitätsdatenbank zeigen, dass ein verstärktes Wachstum der IT-Kapitalintensität nach 1995 zwar positive Auswirkungen auf das Produktivitätswachstum in Deutschland hatte, aber doch zu schwach war, um den Wachstumsrückgang der Nicht-IT-Kapitalintensität aufzufangen.Produktivität, Branche Wirtschaftswachstum, Datenbank, Deutschland, Vereinigte Staaten

Bone involvement in patients with lymphoma: the role of FDG-PET/CT

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic impact and clinical significance of FDG-avid bone lesions detected by FDG-PET/CT in patients with lymphoma. Methods: The study population comprised 50 consecutive patients (mean age 41.7±15.5years; 27 female, 23 male; 41 staging, 9 restaging) with Hodgkin's disease (n=22) or aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (n=28) in whom FDG-avid bone lesions were detected by FDG-PET/CT. All patients had either direct biopsy of the FDG-avid bone lesion (n=18), standard bone marrow biopsy at the iliac crest (BMB; n=43) or both procedures (n=11). In 15 patients, additional MRI of the bone lesions was performed. All patients underwent FDG-PET/CT after the end of treatment. All CT images of FDG-PET/CT scans were analysed independently regarding morphological osseous changes and compared with FDG-PET results. Results: In the 50 patients, 193 FDG-avid lesions were found by PET/CT. The mean standardised uptake value was 6.26 (±3.22). All direct bone biopsies (n=18) of the FDG-avid lesions proved the presence of lymphomatous infiltration. BMB (n=43) was positive in 12 patients (27.9%). In CT, 32 of 193 (16.6%) lesions were detected without the PET information. No additional morphological bone infiltration was detected on CT compared with FDG-PET. All morphological bone alterations on CT scans persisted after the end of therapy. Additional PET/CT information regarding uni- or multifocal bone involvement resulted in lymphoma upstaging in 21 (42%) patients compared with the combined information provided by CT and BMB. Conclusion: In patients with FDG-avid bone lesions, FDG-PET is superior to CT alone or in combination with unilateral BMB in detecting bone marrow involvement, leading to upstaging in a relevant proportion of patient