Ferdinando Ofria

Kaldor-Verdoorn’s law and increasing returns to scale: a comparison across developed countries

The object of this study is to investigate the validity of the Kaldor-Verdoorn’s Law in explaining the long run determinants of the labor productivity growth for the manufacturing sector of some developed economies (Western European Countries, Australia, Canada, Japan and United States). We consider the period 1973-2006 using data provided by the European Commission - Economics and Financial Affairs. Our findings suggest that the law is valid for the manufacturing of Italy, US, Belgium and Australia. Capital growth and labor cost growth do not appear relevant in explaining productivity growth. The estimated Verdoorn coefficients are found to be stable throughout the period.

Kaldor-Verdoorn's law and increasing returns to scale

Purpose – The aim of this study is to investigate the validity of the Kaldor-Verdoorns law in explaining the long-run determinants of the labor productivity growth for the manufacturing sector of some developed economies (Western European Countries, Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA). Design/methodology/approach – The authors consider the period 1973-2006 using data provided by the European Commission – Economics and Financial Affairs. The method is instrumental variable. The robustness of estimates is checked by means of the Chow and the CUSUM and CUSUMQ tests. The authors consider the traditional specification of the dynamic Verdoorn law and the one which also includes investment to output ratio (I/Y), as a proxy of the capital growth rate, and the average labor cost growth, as a proxy of supply factors. Findings – The findings suggest that the law is valid for the manufacturing as countries show increasing returns to scale. Capital growth and labor cost growth do not appear important in explaining productivity growth. The estimated Verdoorn coefficients are found to be substantially stable throughout the period. Originality/value – The authors consider the most recent years, which has been characterized by a constant decline in the average GDP growth rates; a productivity growth decline; the long-term reduction in the manufacturing share of total employment. The authors examine the importance of alternative hypotheses such as those related to the existence of supply constraints. The authors check the stability of the KVL throughout the period under the consideration and across countries. The authors evaluate whether, in the case of the developed countries, economies of scale are significant.

Forme proprietarie ed efficienza produttiva nei servizi socio-assistenziali. Un’analisi non-parametrica

This paper considers a sample of 228 Italian organisations providing communal services with the aim of measuring their technical efficiency using the DEA (Date Envelopment Analysis) method and of testing the existence of efficiency differentials among nonprofit, forprofit and public organisations. The results show that no significant efficiency differentials exist across organisational forms. The innovative aspects of this paper include: 1) the allowance for the role of non-paid labour, that characterises particularly the nonprofit sector; 2) the inclusion among the inputs of indicators of both paid and non-paid work-hours (as opposed to number of workers) and among the outputs of service hours per user; 3) the differentiation, within the nonprofit sector, between social cooperatives, religious nonprofit organisations, and non-religious nonprofit organisations.

Corruzione e spesa pubblica nel Mezzogiorno

Corruption and Public Expenditure in Italian Mezzogiorno - This paper is divided in two parts. The first, exposes a review ofthe empirical literature on the italian economy and particularly on the Italian Mezzogiorno dealing with the relationship between government expenditure in public works, corruption, and productivity in the private sector of the economy. These studies underline the fact that corruption often makes public expenditure for infrastructures ineffective: this is especial/y true when public expenditure is discretional/y managed by political actors. In the second part, startingfrom a criticaI analysis of actual Italian legislation concerning public contracts, we suggest anti-corruption strategies, in order to guarantee the effectiveness, efficiency and efficacy ofpublic works.