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Seoul Journal of Economics - Vol. 21 , No. 1
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Seoul Journal of Economics - Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 39-91
Abbreviation: SJE
ISSN: 1225-0279 (Print)
Print publication date 29 Feb 2008
Received 15 Oct 2007 Revised 12 Feb 2008

A Comparative Analysis of Productivity Growth and Productivity Dispersion: Microeconomic Evidence Based on Listed Firms from Japan, Korea, and China
Keiko Ito ; Moosup Jung ; YoungGak Kim ; Tangjun Yuan
Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, Senshu University, 2-1-1, Higashi-Mita, Tama-ku, Kawasaki 214-8580, Japan, Tel: +81-44-900-7818, Fax: +81-44-911-0467 (keiko-i@isc.senshu-u.ac.jp)
Doctor, Department of Economics, Seoul National University, Korea (econ@snu.ac.kr)
Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, Japan (younggak_kim@yahoo.co.jp)
Research Fellow, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Japan (en@ier.hit-u.ac.jp)

JEL Classification: D24, L25, O53, O57

Abstract

Utilizing the firm-level dataset, this study aims to explore differences in firm-level productivity and growth between Japan, Korea, and China. Our main results can be summarized as follows. First, although Japanese firms enjoy the highest average TFP level in many industries, their TFP growth rate has been relatively low during the past two decades. Korean firms have achieved considerable TFP growth in certain industries. The average TFP level of Chinese firms is still much lower than that of Japanese and Korean firms in many industries. Second, within-industry dispersion of TFP levels is very small for Japanese firms. Third, in Korea, the TFP levels of lowperforming firms are approaching those of the national frontier firms at a more rapid pace than in Japan.

Keywords: Total factor productivity, Micro data, TFP growth, Productivity dispersion, Listed firms, Japan, Korea, China
Acknowledgments

A previous version of this paper was presented at the 15th Seoul Journal of Economics International Symposium, Productivity and Performance of the Firms in Korea, Japan, and China (sic), October 23, 2007, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. The authors are grateful to Wooseok Ok, Yoshitsugu Kitazawa, and other conference participants for helpful comments.

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