Productivity Convergence within Manufacturing? A Note

11 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2000

See all articles by Anders Sorensen

Anders Sorensen

Copenhagen Business School - Department of Economics

Abstract

In a widely quoted paper - Bernard and Jones, AER December 1996 - it is found that productivity in manufacturing does not show evidence of convergence across selected OECD countries. The main message in this note is that the absence of convergence in manufacturing is not a robust finding. In particular, it depends heavily of the choice of base year, because the applied conversion factor - expenditure PPPs for total GDP - is not appropriate for measuring productivity in manufacturing. Hence, whether or not productivity in manufacturing converges across OECD countries remains an open question.

Keywords: Convergence, Catch-up, manufacturing

JEL Classification: O40

Suggested Citation

Sorensen, Anders, Productivity Convergence within Manufacturing? A Note. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=237997 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.237997

Anders Sorensen (Contact Author)

Copenhagen Business School - Department of Economics ( email )

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DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Denmark
+45 3815 3493 (Phone)
+45 3815 2576 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.cbs.dk/en/staff/aseco

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