Productivity and Economic Growth in East Asia: Innovation, Efficiency and Accumulation

UCSC, Economics Working Paper No. 502

31 Pages Posted: 7 Nov 2001

See all articles by Gaofeng Han

Gaofeng Han

Hong Kong Monetary Authority; University of California, Santa Cruz - Department of Economics

Kaliappa Kalirajan

Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID)

Nirvikar Singh

University of California, Santa Cruz

Abstract

Sources of growth in East Asia have been a controversial subject in the literature. This necessitates more empirical studies to see whether there is more convergence to a particular view of the sources of growth. This study provides a comprehensive examination of sources of growth that allows one to decompose total factor productivity growth, separating out technical efficiency changes from technological progress. This paper applies a varying coefficients frontier production function model to data from 20 manufacturing sectors at the 3-digit SIC level to examine the sources of growth in four East Asian economies. The economies are Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, and the period covered is 1987-93. We find that while there is ample evidence of the importance of increasing inputs in growth, and there is some support for technical efficiency change, or catching up to the frontier over this period, there is weak or even negative evidence for the role of technological progress, measured as a shift in the estimated production frontier.

Keywords: TFPG, technical efficiency change, sources of growth

JEL Classification: C21, O30, O47

Suggested Citation

Han, Gaofeng and Kalirajan, Kaliappa and Singh, Nirvikar, Productivity and Economic Growth in East Asia: Innovation, Efficiency and Accumulation. UCSC, Economics Working Paper No. 502, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=289982 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.289982

Gaofeng Han

Hong Kong Monetary Authority ( email )

3 Garden Road, 30th Floor
Hong Kong
Hong Kong

University of California, Santa Cruz - Department of Economics ( email )

Santa Cruz, CA 95064
United States

Kaliappa Kalirajan

Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID)

1-6-17 Kudan Minami, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 162-8677
Japan

Nirvikar Singh (Contact Author)

University of California, Santa Cruz ( email )

Department of Economics
E2 Building
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
United States
831-459-4093 (Phone)
831-459-5077 (Fax)

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