Assessing Competitiveness: How Firm-Level Data Can Help
Carlo Altomonte, Filippo di Mauro, Giorgio Barba Navaretti, Gianmarco Ottaviano
Bruegel Policy Contribution,
No. 16,
2011
Abstract
As policymakers refocus on growth, the ability to take a firm-level view is key to disentangling the various factors at the root of competitiveness, and thus to designing appropriate policies. Firm-level data provides critical information for the design of appropriate competitiveness measures that complement traditional macro analysis. More work remains to be done assembling firm-level information, but the variance of the distribution of firm characteristics already conveys important information in addition to standard averages. New indicators should be developed to translate the distribution of firm characteristics into indicators of competitiveness designed to capture not only average performance but also the heterogeneity of firm performance. This Policy Contribution builds on ongoing research within EFIGE (www.efige.org), a project to help identify the internal policies needed to improve the external competitiveness of the European Union.
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Industrial Associations as a Channel of Business-Government Interactions in an Imperfect Institutional Environment: The Russian Case
A. Yakovlev, A. Govorun
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 16,
2011
Abstract
International lessons from emerging economies suggest that business associations may provide an effective channel of communication between the government and the private sector. This function of business associations may become still more important in transition economies, where old mechanisms for coordinating enterprise activities have been destroyed, while the new ones have not been established yet. In this context, Russian experience is a matter of interest, because for a long time, Russia was regarded as a striking example of state failures and market failures. Consequently, the key point of our study was a description of the role and place of business associations in the presentday
Russian economy and their interaction with member companies and bodies of state
administration. Relying on the survey data of 957 manufacturing firms conducted in
2009, we found that business associations are more frequently joined by larger companies, firms located in regional capital cities, and firms active in investment and innovation. By contrast, business associations tend to be less frequently joined by business groups’ subsidiaries and firms that were non-responsive about their respective ownership structures. Our regression analysis has also confirmed that business associations are a component of what Frye (2002) calls an “elite exchange”– although only on regional and local levels. These “exchanges” imply that members of business associations, on the one hand, more actively assist regional and local authorities in social development of their regions, and on the other hand more often receive support from authorities. However, this effect is insignificant in terms of support from the federal government. In general, our results allow us to believe that at present, business associations (especially the
industry-wide and “leading” ones) consolidate the most active, advanced companies and act as collective representatives of their interests. For this reason, business associations can be regarded as interface units between the authorities and businesses and as a possible instrument for promotion of economic development.
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Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Regional Functions: Identifying Sources of Regional Employment Growth in Germany from 2003 to 2008
Matthias Brachert, Alexander Kubis, Mirko Titze
Abstract
This article analyses how regional employment growth in Germany is affected by related variety, unrelated variety and the functions a region performs in the production process. Following the related variety literature, we argue that regions benefit from the existence of related activities that facilitate economic development. However, we argue that the sole reliance of related variety on standard industrial classifications remains debatable. Hence, we offer estimations for establishing that conceptual progress can indeed be made when a focus for analysis goes beyond solely considering industries. We develop an industry-function based approach of related and unrelated variety. Our findings suggest that related variety only in combination with a high functional specialization of the region facilitates regional growth in Germany. Additionally, also unrelated variety per se fails to wield influences affecting development of regions. It is rather unrelated, but functionally proximate variety in the groups “White Collar” and “Blue Collar Workers” positively affects regional employment growth.
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05.10.2011 • 42/2011
Neues EU-Projekt am IWH stärkt internationale Vernetzung
Das Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) hat heute die Verträge zur Beteiligung am Forschungsprojekt „Growth – Innovation – Competitiveness: Fostering Cohesion in Central and Eastern Europe (GRINCOH)“ unterzeichnet, das im 7. Forschungsrahmenprogramm der Europäischen Union (EU) gefördert wird. Im Wettbewerb der eingereichten Anträge wurde das GRINCOH-Projekt nach den Kriterien wissenschaftliche Exzellenz, Qualität des Konsortiums und potenzielle Wirksamkeit in der politischen Beratung am höchsten bewertet.
Iciar Dominguez Lacasa
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Vierteljährliche Konjunkturberichterstattung für das Land Sachsen-Anhalt – Die gesamtwirtschaftliche Lage im 2. Quartal 2011 –
Udo Ludwig, Brigitte Loose, Franziska Exß
Einzelveröffentlichungen,
No. 2,
2011
Abstract
Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung hat auch in Sachsen-Anhalt im zweiten Quartal einen Dämpfer bekommen. Nicht nur die Industrie schwächelte, sondern auch die Leistungen des Baugewerbes, des Handels sowie des Kredit- und Versicherungsgewerbes gaben gegenüber den Monaten Januar bis März konjunkturell gesehen nach. Das Bruttoinlandsprodukt ist mit 1,2% kräftig gesunken. Das war deutlich mehr als im Durchschnitt für Deutschland und die neuen Bundesländer insgesamt (-0,2%). Allerdings wird diese Aussage sehr stark von Sondereffekten geprägt, so dass die konjunkturelle Grundtendenz unterzeichnet wird. So kam es im umsatzstärksten Industriezweig, der Mineralölverarbeitung, zu einem technisch bedingten Produktionsausfall für einen ganzen Monat, und das Baugewerbe litt unter der Reaktion auf das hohe, witterungsbedingte Aufholtempo im ersten Quartal. Die unternehmensnahen privaten Dienstleister erzielten zwar ein Leistungsplus. Sie konnten jedoch die Rückgänge in den anderen Wirtschaftsbereichen nicht wettmachen. Zudem standen die öffentlichen Dienstleister weiterhin unter dem Druck der anhaltenden Haushaltskonsolidierung im Bereich Öffentliche Verwaltung, Erziehung und Unterricht.
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International Fragmentation of Production and the Labour Input into Germany’s Exports – An Input-Output-analysis
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Udo Ludwig
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 14,
2011
Abstract
The import penetration of exports has become a topic of public debate, particularly in the context of Germany’s position as one of the world’s leading exporters. The growth in the volume of intermediate products purchased from abroad for subsequent processing into export goods in Germany seems to be undermining the importance of exports as a driver of domestic production and employment. The gains that arise from an increase in exports seem to have been offset by the losses caused by the crowding out of local production by imports. Empirical evidence on the impact of this international integration of the goods market on the German labour market is ambiguous. Short-term negative effects on employment are claimed to be offset by the long-term benefit that the jobs lost in the short run will eventually be replaced by higher-skilled jobs with better
perspectives. Against this background, the following hypothesis is tested empirically: Germany is poor in natural resources, but rich in skilled labour. In line with the Heckscher- Ohlin theory, Germany should therefore specialize in the production of export goods and services that are relatively intensive in these factors and should import those goods and services that are relatively intensive in unskilled labour. The empirical part of the paper deals with the extent of the German export penetration by imports. At first, it analyses by what ways imports are affecting the exports directly and indirectly and shows the consequences of import penetration of exports for the national output and employment. Secondly, consequences for employment are split in different skill types of labour. These issues are discussed with the standard open static inputoutput- model. The data base is a time series of official input-output tables. The employment effects for Germany divided by skill types of labour are investigated using skill matrices generated by the authors.
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Auswirkungen der aus dem Konjunkturpaket II für das Zentrale Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand (ZIM) bereitgestellten Mittel auf die konjunkturelle Entwicklung. Gutachten im Auftrag des Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (BMWi)
Jutta Günther, Udo Ludwig, Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Brigitte Loose, Nicole Nulsch
Einzelveröffentlichungen,
2011
Abstract
Das Zentrale Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand (ZIM) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Technologie unterstützt in Deutschland Forschung und Innovation in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen. In Reaktion auf die weltweite Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise wurde das ZIM in den Jahren 2009 und 2010 – zusätzlich zu dem Haushaltsvolumen von 626 Mio. Euro – um 900 Mio. Euro aus dem Konjunkturpaket II aufgestockt. Das Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) hat die konjunkturelle Hebelwirkung dieser Mittel quantifiziert. Ergebnis: Die staatliche Anschubfinanzierung in Höhe von 1,3 Mrd. Euro führte zu Forschungsprojekten der Unternehmen und Wissenschafts-einrichtungen in beinahe dreimal so hohem Umfang (3,7 Mrd. Euro). Über zuliefernde Firmen erhöht sich der volkswirtschaftliche Effekt nochmals um das Doppelte. Kumuliert über die Jahre 2009 bis 2011 werden bis zu 69 500 Arbeitsplätze gesichert oder neu geschaffen.
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The Impact of Government Procurement Composition on Private R&D Activities
Viktor Slavtchev, Simon Wiederhold
Abstract
This paper addresses the question of whether government procurement can work as a de facto innovation policy tool. We develop an endogenous growth model with quality-improving in-novation that incorporates industries with heterogeneous innovation sizes. Government demand in high-tech industries increases the market size in these industries and, with it, the incentives for private firms to invest in R&D. At the economy-wide level, the additional R&D induced in high-tech industries outweighs the R&D foregone in all remaining industries. The implications of the model are empirically tested using a unique data set that includes federal procurement in U.S. states. We find evidence that a shift in the composition of government purchases toward high-tech industries indeed stimulates privately funded company R&D.
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Bank-specific Shocks and the Real Economy
Claudia M. Buch, Katja Neugebauer
Journal of Banking and Finance,
No. 8,
2011
Abstract
Governments often justify interventions into the financial system in the form of bail outs or liquidity assistance with the systemic importance of large banks for the real economy. In this paper, we analyze whether idiosyncratic shocks to loan growth at large banks have effects on real GDP growth. We employ a measure of idiosyncratic shocks which follows Gabaix (forthcoming). He shows that idiosyncratic shocks to large firms have an impact on US GDP growth. In an application to the banking sector, we find evidence that changes in lending by large banks have a significant short-run impact on GDP growth. Episodes of negative loan growth rates and the Eastern European countries in our sample drive these results.
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