Resumen de Models of Productivity in European Union, the USA and Japan

Xosé Antón Rodríguez González, Pilar Expósito Díaz

• In this paper, three types of model are used for measuring productivity at the country level: a non-parametric model based on economic growth, an econometric model based on a Cobb-Douglas type production function, and a third procedure combining both parametric and non-parametric techniques.

  These models are applied to the private sectors of European Union Countries (15), the United States, and Japan in the period 1983-2000.

  The findings indicate that the three models do not provide substantially different results. The countries analysed show remarkably different productivity growth patterns, and , moreover, he optimal growth pattern is the one in which growth is accompanied by increases in employment. Those countries that present both productivity growth and increased employment , have generally made an important investment effort both in education and research over the final decades of 20th century.