Abstract
This paper examines the problem of measuring the productivity growth of the information technology (IT) industries across 14 OECD countries over 13 years. Because the IT industries are the providers of IT capital goods, this macro-level analysis intends to find out how productively IT capital are accumulated. The basic unit of analysis employed is the Malmquist total factor productivity (TFP) index. The Malmquist TFP index is then further decomposed into several components that explain different sources of productivity change: technical change, technical efficiency change, and the effects of economies of scale. The estimation approach is based the concept of distance function and employs the non-parametric frontier method of data envelopment analysis (DEA). Our results show that, among the 14 countries examined, ten had witnesses a productivity growth in their IT industries. All but one country, Korea, had experienced technical progress in their IT industries. Ten countries' IT industries were becoming more technically efficient over time. Finally, only two countries, Finland and Italy, received a gain in productivity that was attributed to scale factor.
Recommended Citation
Shao, Benjamin B M and Shu, Wesley S., "Productivity Growth, Technical Progress, and Efficiency Change in Information Technology Industries" (2002). PACIS 2002 Proceedings. 99.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2002/99