Colin Webb

The Changing Nature of Manufacturing in OECD Economies

This paper provides empirical evidence on the changing nature of manufacturing in OECD countries, including the continued loss of employment in the manufacturing. It examines the extent to which manufacturing output and employment are declining in OECD countries and explores possible causes, including increased productivity, slow growth in demand for manufacturing products, loss of markets to imports, statistical and classification issues, and so on. The paper finds that the share of manufacturing in OECD economies is declining and argues that this is likely to continue. It also presents...

Projection of supply and use tables

We present eight existing projection methods and test their relative performance in estimating Supply and Use tables (SUTs) of the Netherlands and Spain. Some of the methods presented have received little attention in the literature, and some have been slightly revised to better deal with negative elements and preserve the signs of original matrix entries. We find that (G)RAS and the methods proposed by Harthoorn and van Dalen (1987) and Kuroda (1988) produce the best estimates for the data in question. Their relative success also suggests the stability of ratios of larger transactions.

Analysing European and International Patent Citations

This paper presents a preliminary set of European and international citation data tables designed to enable researchers to become familiar with the subject and undertake a range of analyses. It addresses analytical and statistical issues such as why citations from international searches and European searches should be combined; the calculation of citation lags; use of International Patent Classification (IPC) codes for grouping patents according to technology; treatment of references to Non-Patent Literature (NPL); and the notion that many publications, from different patenting authorities, covering the same invention can be cited. Differences between US and European citations are also discussed.

Input-Output Analysis in an Increasingly Globalised World

Input-output (I-O) analysis has been around for nearly 70 years, and although its use has ebbed and flowed over the years, it has always retained a dedicated core of users in the worldwide research community. Recently however, there seems to have been a notable increase in the use of input-output tables in empirical analyses addressing a wide range of policy issues. This is partly due to the improved availability and quality of national input-output tables as well as modern IT capabilities allowing more complex analyses to be undertaken by more researchers. A quick glance through recent editions of the journal Economic Systems Research confirms the variety of research topics that can benefit from inputoutput analysis as does a recent user survey conducted by OECD...