Infrastructures and New Technologies as Sources of Spanish Economic Growth

The paper revises the impact of infrastructures and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on economic growth. It takes Spain as a reference case due to the accessibility to capital services estimates. The Spanish database allows the measurement of the impact on growth of three ICT assets (software, hardware and communication) and six different types of infrastructures (roads, railways, airports, ports, as well as urban and water infrastructures). It also allows the distinction between public and privately owned infrastructures. As a first step, the paper recommends the adjustment of the National Accounts (NA) figures, especially when the endogenous approach to compute the user cost is utilized. The rationale for the adjustment relies on the need to recognize explicitly the services provided by public capital, not fully included in NA.ICT, Infrastructures, growth accounting

Spain and Italy: Catching up and falling behind. Two different tales of productivity slowdown

The paper presents a first set of results for Spain and Italy using the EUKLEMS database. It emphasizes the different paths followed by the two countries over the last thirty five years, even though they still have many features in common. The motivation behind this paper is the poor productivity performance that the two countries have shown recently. The general overview details the factors underlying the process of per capita income convergence. Productivity performance is highlighted as the driving factor of convergence, deserving the greatest attention from different perspectives: the contributions of the different sources of productivity growth, which make use of the growth accounting framework; the impact of the structural change undergone by the two countries while moving from economies with still important shares of the agricultural sector to a more modern one; or the responsibility of poor productivity improvements in given industries. The changing composition of labour also deserves a detailed analysis because of its importance in productivity over the period analyzed.Growth, productivity, Growth accouting

ICT and Economic Growth in Spain 1985-2002

Using new sectoral data on investment and capital services we carry out a growth accounting exercise on Spain 1985-2002. We compute the contribution to output and labour productivity growth of employment, non-ICT and ICT capital, labour qualification and Total Factor Productivity. Results are given for 29 different branches; individually and grouped into four clusters according to their ICT use intensity. Three ICT assets (hardware, communications and software) are considered. We find that although the ICT intensive group appears to be the most dynamic cluster, most of the impact on productivity is still to come. There is some evidence of a reversal of the productivity slow down of the nineties starting in the year 2000.growth accounting, productivity, ICT

Three (Marginal?) Questions Regarding Convergence

This paper focuses on three (marginal?) questions surrounding the analysis of economic convergence and uses Spanish provinces as a means of illustration. The three questions in hand are the following: (i) given that the geographical units of analysis are usually quite different in economic size, is the weighting of economic units relevant in convergence analysis? (ii) the average per capita income of a given region, or country, is the first moment in the distribution of income, but what about the second moment, inequality? Have we converged in inequality? and (iii) an aggregate welfare index must take into account, at least, the evolution of the first two moments of the distribution of income, and so does the adjustment for inequality make important differences in the evolution of average per capita income? The answer to the first two questions is yes, but to the third it is clearly no.Convergence, income distribution, inequality indices and regional analysis

Growth and Infrastructures

This paper examines some contributions to the analysis of the importance of public capital, particularly infrastructure in Spain’s economic growth. We highlight the positive contribution of productive public capital to growth and convergence between regions. We also describe the profile of capital accumulation during the first eight years of the decade, drawing attention to the slowdown in investment in infrastructure. Finally, we provide some reflections about the future.Capitalization, growth

The Economic Impact of Migration – Productivity Analysis for Spain and the UK

As a consequence of increased internationalization over the past 20 years labour has become increasingly mobile, and yet the implications for firm and industry performance have been largely ignored. This paper explores the direct economic consequences of immigration on host nations’ productivity performance at a sectoral level. We consider its impact in two very different European countries, Spain and the UK. Whilst the UK has traditionally had a substantial in-flow of migration, for Spain, the phenomenon is much more recent. The paper provides an overview of the role played by immigration on per capita income, highlighting the importance of demographic differences. We then go on to analyze the role of migration on productivity using two different approaches: i) growth accounting methodology and ii) econometric estimation of a production function. Our findings indicate that migration has had very different implications for Spain and the UK, migrants being more productive than natives in the UK but less productive than natives in Spain. This may in part be a function of different immigration policies, particularly related to the skill requirements on entry, but also in part a feature of the host nations’ ability to ‘absorb’ foreign labour.Migration, productivity

The Economic Impact of Migration: Productivity Analysis for Spain and the United Kingdom

Increased internationalization over the past 20 years has meant that labour has become increasingly mobile, and whilst employment and earnings effects have been extensively analysed in host and source nations, the implications for firm and industry performance have been largely ignored. This paper explores the direct economic consequences of immigration on host nations’ productivity performance at a sectoral level. We consider its impact in two very different European countries, Spain and the UK. Whilst the UK has traditionally had a substantial in-flow of migration, for Spain, the phenomenon is much more recent. The paper provides an overview of the role played by immigration on per capita income, highlighting the importance of demographic differences. We then go on to analyze the role of migration on productivity using two different approaches: i) growth accounting methodology and ii) econometric estimation of a production function. Our findings indicate that migration has had very different implications for Spain and the UK, migrants being more productive than natives in the UK but less productive than natives in Spain. This may in part be a function of different immigration policies, particularly related to the skill requirements on entry, but also in part a feature of the host nations’ ability to ‘absorb’ foreign labour.Key words: migration, productivity, industries

Public Capital and Productive Efficiency in the Spanish Regions (1964 1989)

The article analyses the evolution of the differences in economic conditions among Spanish regions from the perspective provided by the recent advances made in economic growth empirics. Although convergence is usually established in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) per capita, in the case of Spain it is of special interest to break it down into three separate elements: activity rate, employment rate, and productivity of labour. Regional differences in unemployment rates, which persist for long periods of time, are identified as a force against convergence. After describing the distinction between conditional and non conditional convergence, the paper considers the role played by the productive structure in establishing regional differences, with special reference to the weight of the agricultural sector and the role of public capital in conditional convergence. Finally, conditional and non conditional convergence equations are estimated for the 17 Spanish regions for the 1955 1991 period. The paper concludes that the convergence process is concentrated in the first half of the period (1955 1979) and that both, the productive structure and public capital, had a significant role in the convergence process.Regional Convergence, Public Capital