Recent evidence suggests that competitive intensity has been declining in the US. This column aims to contribute to our understanding of these trends in the euro area. It finds that, in contrast to the situation in the US, market power metrics have been relatively stable over recent years and mark-ups have marginally been trending down since the late 1990s. It suggests that more research on the sectoral level and with better data is necessary to analyse the complex welfare and policy implications of these developments.
Productivity and Innovation
Managerial quality remains low in firms in developing countries. In the context of the Indian garment industry, this column shows that manager characteristics matter for productivity. It argues that firms might not know what constitutes good management or how valuable it is, and that they could benefit from screening and management training in these qualities.
Recent debates about the global productivity slowdown point to a large and increasing productivity gap between firms operating at the global technological frontier and those trailing behind. This column analyses whether better access to bank credit can accelerate technological diffusion and narrow the productivity gap between leading and lagging firms. Using data from a large emerging market – Russia – it shows that while bank loans can encourage firms to adopt new technologies and become more productive, long-run benefits vary substantially across industries and regions.
Has technological progress in manufacturing been skill-biased or deskilling? This column argues that the conventional distinction between white-collar and production workers has concealed substantial deskilling among manufacturing production workers since the 1950s. Automation has reduced the demand for skilled craftsmen around the world, thereby reducing the number of jobs in which workers with little formal education could acquire significant marketable skills.
Despite all the evidence to the contrary we continue to overestimate how much work we will do tomorrow, or how often we will go to the gym. Why? Peter Schwardmann tells Tim Phillips that we do learn from experience about ourselves - in the right circumstances.
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29 - 30 August 2019 / Galatina, Italy /
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4 - 5 September 2019 / Roma Eventi, Congress Center, Pontificia Università Gregoriana Piazza della Pilotta, 4, Rome, Italy / European Center of Sustainable Development , CIT University
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9 - 14 September 2019 / Guildford, Surrey, UK / The University of Surrey
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16 - 17 September 2019 / Oslo / Danmarks Nationalbank, Deutsche Bundesbank and Norges Bank
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16 - 17 September 2019 / Essen, Germany / Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), University College London and RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research
