Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP708
Authors: Stephen N. Broadberry
Abstract: The commonly accepted chronology for comparative productivity levels based on GDP data does not apply to the manufacturing sector, where there is evidence of a much greater degree of stationarity of comparative labour productivity performance among the major industrialized countries of Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. These results for manufacturing suggest that convergence of GDP per worker must have occurred through trends in other sectors and through compositional effects of structural change. The persistent large labour productivity gap between the US and Europe cannot be explained simply by differences in capital per worker, but is related to technological choice.
Keywords: convergence; labour productivity; manufacturing; long run
JEL Codes: N10; N60; O47; O52
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Technological advancements (O33) | Labor productivity levels (O49) |
| US productivity lead (O49) | Divergence in productivity performance (O49) |
| Capital per worker (J24) | Productivity differentials (O49) |
| Technological choices (O33) | Productivity differentials (O49) |
| Divergence in productivity performance (O49) | Stationary comparative labor productivity levels (J89) |