Do Market Pressures Induce Economic Efficiency?

Do Market Pressures Induce Economic Efficiency? PDF Author: Peter F. Orazem
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Competition
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
The Slovenian transition represents a slow but steady liberalization of constraints on competition. Using a unique longitudinal data set on all manufacturing firms in Slovenia over the period 1994-2001, Orazem and Vodopivec analyze how firm efficiency changed in response to changing competitive pressures, holding constant firm attributes. Results show that the period was one of atypically rapid growth of total factor productivity (TFP) relative to levels in OECD countries, and that the rise in firm efficiency occurs across almost all industries and firm types--large or small, state or private, and domestic or foreign-owned. Changes in firm ownership type have no impact on firm efficiency. Rather, competitive pressures that sort out inefficient firms of all types and retain the most efficient, coupled with the entry of new private firms that are at least as efficient as surviving firms, prove to be the major source of TFP gains. Market competition from new entrants, foreign-owned firms, and international trade also raise firm efficiency in the industry. Results strongly confirm that market competition fosters efficiency. This paper--a product of the Social Protection Team, Human Development Network--is part of a larger effort in the network to investigate sources of growth of labor market productivity.

Do Market Pressures Induce Economic Efficiency?

Do Market Pressures Induce Economic Efficiency? PDF Author: Peter F. Orazem
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Competition
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Get Book

Book Description
The Slovenian transition represents a slow but steady liberalization of constraints on competition. Using a unique longitudinal data set on all manufacturing firms in Slovenia over the period 1994-2001, Orazem and Vodopivec analyze how firm efficiency changed in response to changing competitive pressures, holding constant firm attributes. Results show that the period was one of atypically rapid growth of total factor productivity (TFP) relative to levels in OECD countries, and that the rise in firm efficiency occurs across almost all industries and firm types--large or small, state or private, and domestic or foreign-owned. Changes in firm ownership type have no impact on firm efficiency. Rather, competitive pressures that sort out inefficient firms of all types and retain the most efficient, coupled with the entry of new private firms that are at least as efficient as surviving firms, prove to be the major source of TFP gains. Market competition from new entrants, foreign-owned firms, and international trade also raise firm efficiency in the industry. Results strongly confirm that market competition fosters efficiency. This paper--a product of the Social Protection Team, Human Development Network--is part of a larger effort in the network to investigate sources of growth of labor market productivity.

Do Market Pressures Induce Economic Efficiency? The Case of Slovenian Manufacturing, 1994-2001

Do Market Pressures Induce Economic Efficiency? The Case of Slovenian Manufacturing, 1994-2001 PDF Author: Peter F. Orazem
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic book
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


International Friction and Cooperation in High-Technology Development and Trade

International Friction and Cooperation in High-Technology Development and Trade PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309057299
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description


Competitiveness, Social Responsibility and Economic Growth

Competitiveness, Social Responsibility and Economic Growth PDF Author: Janez Prašnikar
Publisher: Nova Publishers
ISBN: 9781594548116
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Globalisation of the economy have confronted Europe with a question of what are its real competitive capabilities, sustainability of its economy and of the values of typical Europeans. The famous Lisbon Strategy has been an attempt to answer this by creating the knowledge economy. This book analyses the Lisbon Strategy from various perspectives.

Enhancing Job Opportunities

Enhancing Job Opportunities PDF Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821361961
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
Annotation This title looks at ways governments can promote the creation of more and better jobs in the region. It addresses the question of why labour market outcomes have been disappointing during the transition, and suggests policy interventions to promote firms' investment, job creation and economic development.

Social and Economic Development in Central and Eastern Europe

Social and Economic Development in Central and Eastern Europe PDF Author: Grzegorz Gorzelak
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429835280
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
The integration of post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe into the EU is one of the success stories of European development. The region has seen significant economic convergence, dramatic changes in socio-economic indicators and improvements in the natural environment. However, some challenges remain, such as political divergence, public governance issues and population demographics. This book identifies and analyses the key post-1990 developments across the New Member States at the sub-national and national levels, with frequent country-level and regional comparisons. Careful attention is paid to drawing out commonalities in development trajectories while appreciating each country’s unique context. Drawing on the academic literature and illuminating empirical material, the broad range of topics discussed in the book paints a detailed picture of both change and stability in Central and Eastern Europe. It will be valuable reading for advanced students, researchers and policymakers in regional studies, European studies, human geography, political economy and transition economics.

Free to Fail

Free to Fail PDF Author: Arjen van Witteloostuijn
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1781953155
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
This challenging book tackles one of the most fundamental questions in economics: Why are commercial organizations more efficient than organizations in the public domain? It is generally accepted that the traditional answer (the fact that commercial organizations maximize profits) does not necessarily hold true. Finding a solution to this anomaly, as this book attempts to do, should therefore be a prime concern in economics. The authors believe the answer lies in the fact that even in a completely stable environment, all organizations will eventually fail irreparably. Organizations operating in the market are more efficient because, once in decline, they are Ôfree to failÕ and allowed to be disassembled or even replaced. Public organizations that fail are more often than not protected and allowed to continue even though their efficiency is questionable. This fascinating and thought-provoking book will provide a stimulating read for academics and students with an interest in economics, business and management and public policy.

Market Dynamics and Productivity in Developing Countries

Market Dynamics and Productivity in Developing Countries PDF Author: Khalid Sekkat
Publisher: IDRC
ISBN: 1441912088
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
To what degree are trade liberalization, productivity, and economic growth correlated? Can economic policies designed to encourage competition and curtail industry protection result in large-scale improvements, such as increased innovation and reduced unemployment? After 20 years of economic reform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), economic performance is still lagging behind many regions of the world. Even in those countries that are the most advanced in implementing reforms, including Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, industries with low productivity growth and high market power continue to dominate. Moreover, the termination of the Multi-Fiber Agreement and the negotiations concerning further liberalization of trade in agricultural products (under the framework of the World Trade Organization) put these and other countries under pressure of fierce competition from emerging nations. Recent empirical evidence on the impact of reforms in a number of developing countries shows that such persistence of inefficiency and market power is specific to MENA. Showcasing in-depth analyses from Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey (with comparative data from Asia and Latin America), this book focuses on the dynamics of firm entry and exit to help explain the low productivity of the region. The results suggest a number of policy recommendations designed to foster competition, which, in turn, would contribute to innovation, productivity growth, and improved return on capital investments. The book not only reveals important correlations among policy and market factors in MENA, but suggests fruitful areas of research in other developing regions of the world.

Economic Growth and the High Wage Economy

Economic Growth and the High Wage Economy PDF Author: Morris Altman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113629340X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
This book provides a theoretical framework to better understand how firms, economies and labor markets have evolved. This is done in a reader-friendly fashion, without complex mathematical arguments and proofs. Economic Growth and the High Wage Economy shows how high wage economies help make firms and economies more productive and why high wage economies can be competitive even in an increasingly globalized environment. It also demonstrates why concerns that labor supply will dry up as wages increase and social benefits rise are largely based on impoverished economic reasoning. The first chapters provide a theoretical basis for the rest of the book, showing for instance how higher wages are prone to increasing the level of economic efficiency by getting people to work harder and smarter (mainly smarter). Altman also explains that our understanding of technological change can be markedly improved by modelling technological change as a product of higher wages and improved working conditions and other shocks to the economic system. As the book develops, it is shown that increasing and high levels of income inequality are not necessary for growth and development, because the economic ‘pie’ grows when the economic wellbeing of the lower half and even the middle improves. The evolution of the state can also be better understood by applying this analytical framework. So too can the persistence of inefficient systems of production and cultural traits that appear to be inconsistent with economic prosperity. On top of this, the book examines the implications of Altman’s theoretical framework for macroeconomic analysis and policy. Finally, it is shown that labor supply can be better understood by introducing target income into the analytical mix. The main contribution of this book is providing the theoretical underpinning for why relatively high wages and, moreover, competition with high wages is good for dynamic growth and development. This work establishes why an alternative model of labor supply, based on the notion and reality of target income, does a better job of explaining the evolution of labor supply. The latter also reinforces the view that increasing wage and workers’ benefits should not be expected to damage the economy, even in the realm of labor supply. This book will be of interest to public policy experts, trade unions, human rights experts and scholars of behavioural economics, labour economics and globalization.

A Brain-Focused Foundation for Economic Science

A Brain-Focused Foundation for Economic Science PDF Author: Richard B. McKenzie
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319768107
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
This book argues that Lionel Robbins’s construction of the economics field’s organizing cornerstone, scarcity—and all that has been derived from it from economists in Robbins’s time to today—no longer can generate general consent among economists. Since Robbins’ Essay, economists have learned more than Robbins and his cohorts could have imagined about human decision making and about the human brain that is the lynchpin of human decision making. This book argues however that behavioral economists and neuroeconomists, in pointing to numerous ways people fall short of perfectly rational decisions (anomalies, biases, and downright errors), have saved conventional economics from such self-contradictions in what could be viewed as a wayward approach. This book posits that the human brain is the ultimate scarce resource, and that a focus on the brain can bring a new foundation for economics and can save the discipline from hostile criticisms from a variety of non-economists (many psychologists).