Structural accounting: An empirical assessment of cross-country differences in productivity

Dario Diodato (2020), Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography n.20.20

This paper proposes a method to decompose cross-country differences in productivity (TFP) into a technological component – depending on the overall productivity of a country – and an allocation component, which depends on whether factors of productions are allocated to productive or unproductive industries. Using a sample of over 2 million firms from 30 countries, the analysis estimates that 1/4 of inequality between countries is due to the Composition effect, while 3/4 to the Place effect. Moreover, once accounting for heterogeneity at the subnational level, I find that the Composition effect may be as high as 50%.