Downsizing and Productivity Growth: Myth or Reality?

37 Pages Posted: 14 Jul 2000 Last revised: 17 Dec 2022

See all articles by Martin Neil Baily

Martin Neil Baily

Institute for International Economics; University of Maryland

John Haltiwanger

University of Maryland - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Eric J. Bartelsman

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Tinbergen Institute; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: May 1994

Abstract

The conventional wisdom is that the rising productivity in the U.S. manufacturing sector in the 1980s has been driven by the apparently pervasive downsizing over this period. Aggregate evidence clearly shows falling employment accompanying the rise in productivity. In this paper, we examine the microeconomic evidence using the plant level data from the Longitudinal Research Database (LRD). In contrast to the conventional wisdom, we find that plants that increased employment as well as productivity contribute almost as much to overall productivity growth in the 1980s as the plants that increased productivity at the expense of employment. Further, there are striking differences by sector (defined by industry, size, region, wages, and ownership type) in the allocation of plants in terms of whether they upsize or downsize and whether they increase or decrease productivity. Nevertheless, in spite of the striking differences across sectors defined in a variety of ways, most of the variance of productivity and employment growth is accounted for by idiosyncratic factors.

Suggested Citation

Baily, Martin Neil and Haltiwanger, John C. and Bartelsman, Eric J., Downsizing and Productivity Growth: Myth or Reality? (May 1994). NBER Working Paper No. w4741, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=227004

Martin Neil Baily (Contact Author)

Institute for International Economics ( email )

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University of Maryland

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John C. Haltiwanger

University of Maryland - Department of Economics ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) ( email )

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Eric J. Bartelsman

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam ( email )

Amsterdam, ND North Holland
Netherlands
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Tinbergen Institute ( email )

Burg. Oudlaan 50
Rotterdam, 3062 PA
Netherlands

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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