Dirk Pilat

OECD Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding

Ministers of science and technology asked the OECD in January 2004 to develop international guidelines on access to research data from public funding. The resulting Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding were recently approved by OECD governments and are discussed below. They are intended to promote data access and sharing among researchers, research institutions, and national research agencies. OECD member countries have committed to taking these principles and guidelines into account in developing their own national laws and research policies, taking account of differences in their respective national context.

Measuring the Interaction between Manufacturing and Services

This paper examines the interaction between services and manufacturing using several types of data and shows that the distinction between manufacturing and services is blurring. Services make important contributions to production, mainly through their direct contribution to total output and final demand, but to some degree also through their indirect contribution via other industries. However, services are more independent from other industries than the manufacturing sector. Most inputs that are necessary to produce services are derived from the services sector itself. Moreover, their role as providers of intermediate inputs to other industries is not yet as strong as that of the manufacturing sector. The paper also shows that a growing share of workers in the manufacturing sector is engaged in services-related occupations. Using a broad definition of service-related workers, up to 50% of manufacturing workers are in such occupations. Using firm-level data the paper finds that, despite anecdotal evidence on a growing share of services turnover within the manufacturing sector, manufacturing enterprises in most countries are not very diversified in their constituting establishment, i.e. they do not have many establishments engaged in services production. Canada is a notable exception in this respect. In other countries, it is likely that diversification primarily occurs at the level of the enterprise group. On the other hand, data on products suggest that manufacturing firms and establishments appear to derive a growing share of turnover from services, notably in countries such as Finland and Sweden.

Mark-Up Ratios in Manufacturing Industries

This paper provides estimates of mark-ups of product prices over marginal costs for 36 manufacturing industries in 14 OECD countries over the 1970- 1992 period. The estimates are based on the methodology put forward by Roeger (1995), extended to include intermediate inputs. After a discussion of analytical and data issues, the estimates are presented and shown to be smaller than those of previous studies. It is also shown that the level and dispersion of mark-ups are consistent with a priori views about characteristics of the market structure prevailing in each industry. Finally, the paper examines how mark-up estimates affect the estimated rate of growth of total factor productivity (TFP) ... Cette etude fournit des estimations sur le taux de marge des prix sur les couts marginaux pour 36 industries manufacturieres et 14 pays de l’OCDE pour la periode 1970-1992. Les estimations utilisent l’approche mise au point par Roeger (1995) amelioree pour tenir compte des biens intermediaires. L’etude commence par une discussion des problemes methodologiques et statistiques, et les estimations sont presentees. Dans l’ensemble, les taux de marge presentes ici sont beaucoup plus bas que ceux calcules dans d’autres etudes. Le niveau et la dispersion des taux de marge sont relativement coherents avec l’idee a priori sur les caracteristiques des differentes structures de marche. En dernier lieu, il est examine comment les estimations du taux de marge affectent la mesure de la productivite totale des facteurs (PTF) ...

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...

Regulation and Performance in the Distribution Sector

This paper discusses the impact of government-imposed regulations on performance in the distribution sector. It first deals with the role of the distribution sector in OECD economies and gives an overview of competitive conditions in the sector. Next, it provides an overview of recent evidence concerning the impact of regulation. The paper finds that a range of regulations, including restrictions on large stores, opening hours and zoning, have slowed down structural change in the distribution sector. These regulations have sometimes reduced the efficiency of the distribution system, but have mainly limited the range of services provided to consumers ... Reglementations et performances dans le secteur de la distribution Cette etude a pour but d’examiner les effets des reglementations, imposees par les gouvernements, sur les performances du secteur de la distribution. Elle traite en premier, du role du secteur de la distribution dans les economies de l’OCDE et donne une vue d’ensemble sur les conditions de concurrence. Elle fournit ensuite, les recentes evidences de l’impact des reglementations. Cette etude constate qu’un ensemble de reglementations, y compris les restrictions concernant les grandes surfaces, les heures d’ouverture et les emplacements, retarde les changements structurels dans le secteur de la distribution. Ces reglementations ont parfois reduit l’efficience du systeme de distribution, mais ont surtout limite le nombre de services offerts aux consommateurs ...

Economic Growth in the OECD Area

This paper discusses growth performance in the OECD countries over the past two decades. Special attention is given to developments in labour productivity, allowing for human capital accumulation, and multifactor productivity (MFP), allowing for changes in the composition and quality of physical capital. The paper suggests wide (and growing) disparities in GDP per capita growth, while differences in labour productivity have remained broadly stable. These patterns are explained by different employment growth rates across countries. In the most recent years, a rise in MFP growth in ICT-related industries has boosted aggregate growth in some countries (e.g. the United States) ...

Mesure de l'interaction entre les industries manufacturières et les services

Cette etude examine l’interaction qui existe entre les services et les industries manufacturieres, en s’appuyant sur differents types de donnees. Elle montre que la distinction entre les industries manufacturieres et les services tend a s’estomper. Les services apportent d’importantes contributions a la production, principalement sous forme d’apports directs a la production totale et a la demande finale, mais aussi, dans une certaine mesure, a travers leur contribution indirecte. Toutefois, les services sont plus independants des autres industries que ne l’est le secteur manufacturier. La plus grande partie des intrants necessaires a la production des services procede du secteur des services lui-meme. De plus, la place des services dans la fourniture d’intrants intermediaires a d’autres secteurs n’est pas encore aussi importante que celle de l’industrie manufacturiere. Ce travail revele en outre qu’une proportion croissante des travailleurs du secteur manufacturier est employee a des fonctions liees aux services. Si l’on utilise une definition large des fonctions liees aux services, jusqu’a 50 % des travailleurs du secteur manufacturier relevent de telles fonctions. En s’appuyant sur des donnees micro-economiques, ce document montre que, malgre des elements epars qui sembleraient indiquer qu’une part croissante du chiffre d’affaires du secteur manufacturier correspond a des activites de services, dans la plupart des pays, les entreprises manufacturieres restent assez peu diversifiees, ce qui signifie qu’elles ne comptent pas beaucoup d’etablissements produisant des services. Le Canada constitue une exception notable a cet egard. Dans d’autres pays, il semble plutot que la diversification s’opere essentiellement au niveau du groupe. Enfin, les donnees sur les produits suggerent que les entreprises et les etablissements du secteur manufacturier realisent une part plus importante de leur chiffre d’affaires grâce aux services, notamment dans des pays comme la Finlande et la Suede.

Comparing Labour Productivity Growth in the OECD Area

This paper examines how measurement problems affect international comparisons of labour productivity. It suggests that these measurement problems do not significantly affect the assessment of aggregate productivity patterns in the OECD area. However, these problems do influence the more detailed assessment of productivity growth, notably the role of specific sectors and demand components in aggregate performance. The paper shows that there are only a few significant problems regarding the comparability of nominal GDP across OECD countries, the most important being the treatment of software investment. In most cases, efforts are underway to reduce the size of these differences. Measurement differences for real GDP are also important, although several of these factors have impacts that work in different directions. Moreover, several of these problems primarily affect the distribution of total GDP across different expenditure categories and across different activities, not necessarily ...