TY  - JOUR
AU  - Syverson, Chad
TI  - What Determines Productivity?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15712
PY  - 2010
Y2  - January 2010
DO  - 10.3386/w15712
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15712
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15712.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Chad Syverson
University of Chicago
Booth School of Business
5807 S. Woodlawn Ave.
Chicago, IL  60637
Tel: 773/702-7815
Fax: 773/702-8490
E-Mail: chad.syverson@chicagobooth.edu
AB  - Economists have shown that large and persistent differences in productivity levels across businesses are ubiquitous.  This finding has shaped research agendas in a number of fields, including (but not limited to) macroeconomics, industrial organization, labor, and trade.  This paper surveys and evaluates recent empirical work addressing the question of why businesses differ in their measured productivity levels.  The causes are manifold, and differ depending on the particular setting.  They include elements sourced in production practices--and therefore over which producers have some direct control, at least in theory--as well as from producers' external operating environments.  After evaluating the current state of knowledge, I lay out what I see are the major questions that research in the area should address going forward.
ER  -