Productivity gains from services liberalization in Europe

0369926 - NHÚ 2012 CZ eng V - Research Report
Bena, Jan - Ondko, Peter - Vourvachaki, E.
Productivity gains from services liberalization in Europe.
Prague: CERGE-EI, 2011. 50 s. CERGE-EI Working Paper Series, 452. ISSN 1211-3298
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP403/11/2293; GA MŠMT LC542
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503
Keywords : productivity * liberalization * allocative efficiency
Subject RIV: AH - Economics
http://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp452.pdf

As part of the Single Market Program the European Commission commanded the liberalization and regulatory harmonization of utilities, transport and telecommunication services. This paper investigates whether and how this process affected the productivity of European network firms. Exploiting the variation in the timing and degree of liberalization efforts across countries and industries, we find that liberalization increased firm-level productivity but had no reallocation impact. Based on our estimates, the average firm-level productivity gain from liberalization amounts to 38 percent of the average total within-firm productivity gain in network industries. The results underscore the growth-promoting role of liberalization efforts.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0203873