1887

OECD Economics Department Working Papers

Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.

The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.

English, French

Trends in productivity and sources of productivity growth in Slovenia

Slovenia’s living standards measured in GDP per capita are currently some 20% below the EU15 average and have not yet reached their pre-crisis level. Given that most of this gap comes from differences in labour productivity, the paper looks at productivity trends and sources of productivity growth over past two decades. The largest labour productivity lags are in agriculture and mining and utilities, but lags are also present in services sectors such as information and communication activities, financial and insurance activities and professional services. The importance of the high and medium high technology manufacturing has risen in the last two decades, and their share in total manufacturing value added is relatively high in Slovenia. Growth accounting shows that total factor productivity (TFP) and physical capital were the main sources of economic growth before the crisis in Slovenia, while the contribution of human capital was low. With the crisis, however, the GDP growth turned highly negative due to large drops in TFP and the labour input contribution. The contribution from physical capital was also reduced, reflecting subdued investment activity. Slovenia has a high level of state control in the economy and low foreign direct investment (FDI). Using two different panel datasets – one spanning the OECD countries and another spanning Slovenia's economic activities - we find that improving both measures could significantly raise productivity.

English

Keywords: growth accounting, productivity, high technology manufacturing, foreign direct investment
JEL: J24: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demand and Supply of Labor / Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity; O47: Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity / Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence; E24: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics / Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy / Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
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