OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers
The OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) leads OECD research on the contribution of science, technology and industry to well-being and economic growth. STI Working Papers cover a broad range of topics including definition and measurement of science and technology indicators, global value chains, and research on policies to promote innovation. These technical or analytical working papers are prepared by staff or outside consultants to share early insights and elicit feedback.
- Forthcoming titles
- ISSN: 18151965 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/18151965
Measuring Multifactor Productivity Growth
This paper quantifies and examines the contribution of capital, labour and multifactor productivity
(MFP) to GDP growth and analyses the role of measurement of capital and labour inputs for the MFP
estimate, using a comprehensive growth accounting exercise for 14 OECD countries. For most OECD
countries, the strongest contributions to GDP growth over the past decade have come from growth in total
capital input and MFP. This is to some extent related to an increasing role of information and
telecommunication technologies in economic growth, particularly over the 1995-2003 period. The
importance of measurement issues varies substantially with the type of measurement issue being
considered. Substantial differences are observed between employment and hours worked based MFP
growth rates. Also, the respective weights with which capital and labour enter the growth accounting
equation, and thus, the assumptions concerning the efficiency of production and competition in product
markets, significantly influence the resulting MFP estimate. Finally, the results suggest that policy
conclusions on the basis of different empirical studies should be made very carefully, in particular as
regards the time period for which the respective studies have been undertaken, as well as whether actual or
trended time series are being considered.
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