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Productivity Convergence in Manufacturing: A Hierarchical Panel Data Approach

Guohua Feng, Jiti Gao, Bin Peng

arXiv 31 Oct 2021 · Econometrics · publishedMacroeconomic Dynamics (2025)

arXiv:2111.00449 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Despite its paramount importance in the empirical growth literature, productivity convergence analysis has three problems that have yet to be resolved: (1) little attempt has been made to explore the hierarchical structure of industry-level datasets; (2) industry-level technology heterogeneity has largely been ignored; and (3) cross-sectional dependence has rarely been allowed for. This paper aims to address these three problems within a hierarchical panel data framework. We propose an estimation procedure and then derive the corresponding asymptotic theory. Finally, we apply the framework to a dataset of 23 manufacturing industries from a wide range of countries over the period 1963-2018. Our results show that both the manufacturing industry as a whole and individual manufacturing industries at the ISIC two-digit level exhibit strong conditional convergence in labour productivity, but not unconditional convergence. In addition, our results show that both global and industry-specific shocks are important in explaining the convergence behaviours of the manufacturing industries.

Citation extraction

53
references
95
in-text mentions
53
distinct cited
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self-citations
25,562
main-text words

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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
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4Barro (1991) `Economic growth in a cross section of countries', Quarterly Journal of Economics 106(2), 407–4430.84333100%
5Durlauf (2003) `The convergence hypothesis after 10 years', Revista Economica de Castilla-La Mancha 2, 55–740.81142100%
6Kapetanios, Serlenga \ Shin (2021) `Estimation and inference for multi-dimensional heterogeneous panel datasets with hierarchical multi-factor error structure', Jo…0.81142100%
7Pesaran (2006) `Estimation and inference in large heterogeneous panels with a multifactor error structure', Econometrica 74(4), 967–10120.81142100%
8Baumol (1986) `Productivity growth, convergence, and welfare: What the long-run data show', American Economic Review 76(5), 1072–10850.64422100%
9De Long \ Summers (1991) `Equipment investment and economic growth', Quarterly Journal of Economics 106(2), 445–5020.64422100%
10Attanasio, Picci \ Scorcu (2000) `Saving, growth, and investment: A macroeconomic analysis using a panel of countries', Review of Economics and Statistics 82(2),…0.51121100%

Showing the top 10 of 53 scored citations.