REGIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF COMPANY PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN THE LATE 1980S

This paper estimates the impacts on productivity growth of regional fa ctors and technological inputs. Two unique data sets for US textile-ap parel and computer-electronics companies are combined with secondary d ata to estimate a total factor productivity (TFP) growth equation, a n eutral technological progress (NTP) equation and an equation of scale economies. The estimates show that regional factors and technological inputs are more significant contributors to TFP and NTP in computer-el ectronics production than in textile-apparel. Similarly, regional fact ors and technological inputs have stronger influence on scale economie s in computer-electronics than in textile-apparel. Scale economies, as traditionally measured, show a complicated pattern of empirical perfo rmance and may not be a straightforward indicator of productivity grow th in an era of downsizing and flexible production regimes.