亚开行-低收入和中等收入国家服务企业的生产率溢出：企业特征和服务自由化的作用是什么？（英文）-2018.11-35页-1mb

Summary of the Document: Productivity Spillovers from Services Firms in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Core Content

This document explores the productivity spillovers from services firms to manufacturing firms in low- and middle-income countries. It examines how firm characteristics and services liberalization influence the extent and nature of these spillovers. The study is based on data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys, covering over 38,000 manufacturing firms and 24,000 services firms in 105 low- and middle-income countries from 2010 to 2017.

Main Questions and Findings

The study addresses four main questions:

1. Are there productivity and technology spillovers from services to manufacturing firms?

   • Positive spillovers are confirmed from higher regional productivity and technology intensity of services firms.
   • Spillovers from mere presence of services firms are not found.

2. Which manufacturing firms benefit most from spillovers?

   • Large firm size, foreign ownership, and exporting behavior are associated with greater spillover benefits.
   • Higher services intensity is negatively correlated with spillovers, and skill intensity does not have a significant impact.

3. Which services firm characteristics increase the spillover potential?

   • Foreign ownership and top manager experience are positively linked to output per worker and technology intensity.
   • Exporting status is only correlated with technology intensity, not labor productivity.

4. Can services trade liberalization increase spillovers?

   • Lower regulations in mode 1 and mode 3 services trade increase spillovers from services firms to manufacturing firms.
   • Services liberalization is positively correlated with services firm productivity across all modes of supply.

Key Information

• Spillovers are defined as productivity improvements resulting from knowledge diffusion, including technology and tacit knowledge.
• The conceptual framework (Figure 1) highlights the role of absorptive capacity in manufacturing firms and spillover potential of services firms in determining the extent of productivity spillovers.
• The empirical model uses a log-linear regression to estimate the effect of services spillovers on labor productivity of manufacturing firms.
• The spillover variables include:
  • Inprod med: Median productivity level of services firms in a region.
  • tech_med: Median technology intensity of services firms in a region.
• Policy variables are based on the World Bank's Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), which measures services trade restrictions.
• Country income levels influence the magnitude of spillovers, with a U-shaped effect observed for productivity spillovers, and lower-middle and low-income countries benefiting more from technology spillovers.
• Services liberalization enhances the spillover potential of services firms, thereby increasing their productivity-enhancing effects on manufacturing.

Methodology

• The data is sourced from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys and includes firm-level data on productivity, technology intensity, and firm characteristics.
• The data was filtered to include only low- and middle-income countries, and to exclude construction firms and restaurants/hotels.
• Regional spillover measures are calculated using median productivity and technology intensity of services firms.
• The analysis involves interaction terms between spillover variables and firm characteristics, as well as policy variables, to assess the mediating effects.

Conclusion

• The study confirms that services firms contribute positively to manufacturing productivity through knowledge diffusion, especially when services are technologically intensive.
• The effect of spillovers varies with country income and firm characteristics.
• Services liberalization enhances the spillover potential of services firms, particularly in mode 1 and mode 3 services trade.
• The findings align with those of Hoekman and Shepherd (2017), reinforcing the positive correlation between regional services productivity and manufacturing firm labor productivity.

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