Regulation, Productivity and Growth OECD Evidence

In this paper, we relate the scope and depth of regulatory reforms to growth outcomes in OECD countries. By means of a new set of quantitative indicators of regulation, we show that the cross-country variation of regulatory settings has increased in recent years, despite extensive liberalisation and...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nicoletti, Giuseppe
Other Authors: Scarpetta, Stefano
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Paris OECD Publishing 2003
Series:OECD Economics Department Working Papers
Subjects:
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Collection: OECD Books and Papers - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
Description
Summary:In this paper, we relate the scope and depth of regulatory reforms to growth outcomes in OECD countries. By means of a new set of quantitative indicators of regulation, we show that the cross-country variation of regulatory settings has increased in recent years, despite extensive liberalisation and privatisation in the OECD area. We then look at the regulation-growth linkage using data that cover a large set of manufacturing and service industries over the past two decades. We focus on multifactor productivity (MFP), which plays a crucial role in GDP growth and accounts for a significant share of its cross-country variance. We find evidence that reforms promoting private governance and competition (where these are viable) tend to boost productivity. Both privatisation and entry liberalisation are estimated to have a positive impact on productivity. In manufacturing the gains are greater the further a given country is from the technology leader, suggesting that regulation limiting ...
Physical Description:65 p. 21 x 29.7cm