Technology Within and Across Firms
This study collects data on the sophistication of technologies used at the business function level for a representative sample of firms in Vietnam, Senegal, and the Brazilian state of Ceara. The analysis finds a large variance in technology sophist...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/783871605552592458/Technology-Within-and-Across-Firms http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34795 |
| Summary: | This study collects data on the
sophistication of technologies used at the business function
level for a representative sample of firms in Vietnam,
Senegal, and the Brazilian state of Ceara. The analysis
finds a large variance in technology sophistication across
the business functions of a firm. The within-firm variance
in technology sophistication is greater than the variance in
sophistication across firms, which in turn is greater than
the variance in sophistication across regions or countries.
The paper documents a stable cross-firm relationship between
technology at the business function and firm levels, which
it calls the technology curve. Significant heterogeneity is
uncovered in the slopes of the technology curves across
business functions, a finding that is consistent with
non-homotheticities in firm-level technology aggregators.
Firm productivity is positively associated with the
within-firm variance and the average level of technology
sophistication. Development accounting exercises show that
cross-firm variation in technology accounts for one-third of
cross-firm differences in productivity and one-fifth of the
agricultural versus non-agricultural gap in cross-country
differences in firm productivity. |
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