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Convergence of firm-level productivity, globalisation, information technology and competition: evidence from France

Chevalier, Paul-Antoine, Lecat, Rémy and Oulton, Nicholas ORCID: 0000-0002-1595-7732 (2009) Convergence of firm-level productivity, globalisation, information technology and competition: evidence from France. CEP Discussion Paper (916). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.

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Abstract

Studies of firm-level data have shown that there is a huge dispersion of productivity across firms even when industries are narrowly defined. So there is a significant opportunity for the least productive firms to catch up to the most productive. The formers’ convergence could therefore constitute an important part of productivity growth at the macroeconomic level. This article sheds light on this convergence process in the 1990s and the 2000s in France and on some of the factors which can explain it. Productivity convergence was stronger for labour productivity than for total factor productivity. But most importantly the speed of convergence has slowed during the course of the 1990s, a fact which is explained principally by the acceleration of the productivity of firms on the technological frontier. Three possible explanations of these stylised facts are considered: globalisation, information technology, and competition. Globalisation and information technology may have benefited the most productive firms more and the growth of competition may at the same time have stimulated the productivity of firms at the frontier while discouraging the convergence of the least productive firms.

Item Type: Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/
Additional Information: © 2009 The Authors
Divisions: Centre for Economic Performance
Centre for Macroeconomics
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification: F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F10 - General
D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations > D24 - Production; Cost; Capital and Total Factor Productivity; Capacity
O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement > J24 - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L11 - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
D - Microeconomics > D4 - Market Structure and Pricing > D40 - General
Date Deposited: 13 Jul 2010 11:26
Last Modified: 13 Sep 2024 20:12
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/28591

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