Global productivity growth from 1980-2000: a regional view using the Malmquist total factor productivity index

摘要

I compared economic performance across nine global regions using the Malmquist Total Factor Productivity (MTFP) Index. Contemporaneously, I searched for evidence, if any, that regions with formal economic groups performed relatively better than others. Furthermore, I decomposed the measured growth in productivity into technological progress, technical efficiency and scale efficiency, following Knox-Lovell (2003). The Far East is found to be the top performer for the period. The productivity growth for most regions was mainly driven by technological progress and the contributions of scale efficiency. All of the regions suffered a fall in technical efficiency. Although the regions with formal economic blocs perform better than others, the difference in performance is not statistically significant.