In this chapter by Janice Stein warns about the dangers of adopting a narrow conception of productivity and efficiency. Building on her analysis in The Cult of Efficiency, she argues that the language of efficiency, understood narrowly as cost-effectiveness, confronts distinctive problems when...

This paper explores whether investments in information and communication technologies (ICT) and firm?sponsored training programmes are complementary. Three approaches are applied to panel data from German service companies for the time period 1994?98. Results for a system of interrelated factor...

Using German firm-level data, an endogenous switching regression model within a production function framework is estimated in order to explore differences in labor productivity between IT outsourcing and non-IT outsourcing firms. This approach takes possible complementarities between IT...

In this paper we aim to analyze the productivity spillovers of foreign affiliated and domestic firms in Turkish manufacturing industries. As a novelty inter-sectoral linkages are modeled through the use of spatial models. Our results indicate the existence of positive and significant...

Internal communication has become an important factor in today's business world. The increased use of electronic media can, despite their obvious advantages, cause communication problems, i.e. information overload. By avoiding communication problems, the productivity of a company can be...

The paper addresses the link between productivity and labour mobility. The hypothesis tested is that technology is transmitted across industries through the movement of skilled workers embodying human capital. The embodied knowledge is then diffused within the new environment creating spillovers...

We estimate wage differentials across different sectors of the Mexican economy. The results suggest that the wage differential between the formal and informal sectors is significant and larger than the differential between industry and services. The findings suggest that significant differences...

This NEUJOBS research report focuses on links between age, productivity and lifelong learning. Various data sources (EU-SILC, LFS, Structure of Earnings Survey, SHARE, ELSA, SHARELIFE) and methodological approaches were used in this report. Our analysis identifies clusters of countries with...

We present an insight of the socio-economic drivers of economic and noneconomic activity of persons 50+ as well their ability to adopt to SET. Not only the labour market participation, but also social engagement, beliefs, education, religious activities and housework are studied. With the use of...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of innovation activities and their impact on firm performance. For the empirical analysis of the study we employ Business Environment Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS) firm-level data conducted by the World Bank and the European Bank...