Labor productivity levels in Bulgaria lag well behind that in the EU, weighing on the convergence process. Stronger … productivity growth would allow Bulgaria to close the income gap with the EU average more quickly and to alleviate the structural … productivity suggest that for Bulgaria closing the gap with EU standards in the areas of institutional and infrastructure quality …

How do firm-specific actions-in particular, innovation-affect firm productivity? And what is the role of the financial … sector in facilitating higher productivity? Using a rich firm-level dataset, we find that innovation is crucial for firm … performance as it directly and measurably increases productivity. Moreover, its effects on productivity are mediated through the …

Slow productivity growth has plagued the euro area since the mid-1990s. That is particularly striking in view of the … large productivity gains in the United States during the same period. This paper shows that the deceleration in labor … productivity in the euro area was caused by structural changes in wage formation that have affected the relative price of labor …

the Lisbon Agenda. Economic growth in Europe is enhanced to the extent that: trade in services increases, technology …

States, in sharp contrast with both emerging Asia and emerging Europe. This paper argues that lack of convergence was not the …

the growth in labor. If GDP is divided by labor, productivity growth appears to have been slower than in peers. This … chapter discusses both exogenous and endogenous factors behind the disappointing productivity growth in the Netherlands and …

This paper provides empirical evidence on the response of labor productivity to the arrival of new inventions. The … analysis shows that labor productivity may temporarily fall below trend after technological progress. However, the effects on … productivity differ between the pre- and post-World War II periods. The pre-war period shows evidence of a productivity slowdown as …

This paper assesses productivity trends in Canada vis-a-vis the United States from two perspectives. The first one is … based on estimates of total factor productivity. The second one decomposes productivity growth into two sources: investment … underlying cause of the pickup in productivity in Canada and the narrowing of the productivity gap with the United States …