14. Productivity - labor and capital efficiency

Here, the efficiency of capital and labor is increased and the demand for both factors falls. The experiment produces a general reduction in production costs, therefore, a long run gain in foreign trade and domestic production. Table 14 presents the effect of a permanent 1 percent increase in the efficiency of labor and capital.(See experiment)

 

Table 14. The effect of a permanent increase in labor and capital efficiency

    1. yr 2. yr 3. yr 4. yr 5. yr 10. yr 15. yr 20. yr 25. yr 30. yr
    Million 2005-kr.
Priv. consumption fCp 580 322 742 1441 1864 504 -1331 -1851 -1432 -584
Pub. consumption fCo -38 -75 -109 -140 -168 -280 -367 -440 -508 -573
Investment fI -3911 -4760 -1962 135 1143 1675 547 133 361 752
Export fE 2843 4447 6224 7952 9699 17350 22571 25735 27499 28465
Import fM -1118 -1294 723 2407 3373 4872 5397 6187 7041 7742
GDP fY 674 1211 3912 6570 8651 13624 15193 16491 17903 19261
    1000 Persons
Employment Q -16,82 -19,20 -17,82 -15,03 -12,01 -1,83 1,32 2,31 2,54 2,19
Unemployment Ul 8,89 9,55 8,73 7,31 5,81 0,85 -0,67 -1,14 -1,25 -1,08
    Percent of GDP
Pub. budget balance Tfn_o/Y -0,01 -0,14 -0,05 0,06 0,16 0,44 0,51 0,56 0,62 0,68
Priv. saving surplus Tfn_hc/Y 0,10 0,30 0,14 -0,03 -0,13 -0,18 -0,04 0,04 0,05 0,03
Balance of payments Enl/Y 0,09 0,16 0,09 0,04 0,04 0,25 0,47 0,60 0,67 0,71
Foreign receivables Wnnb_e/Y 0,58 0,94 1,08 1,14 1,20 1,95 3,54 5,54 7,60 9,56
Bond debt Wbd_os_z/Y 0,30 0,50 0,55 0,49 0,35 -1,15 -2,98 -4,75 -6,51 -8,25
    Percent
Capital intensity fKn/fX -0,15 -0,31 -0,52 -0,68 -0,80 -0,97 -1,01 -1,05 -1,08 -1,06
Labour intensity hq/fX -0,70 -0,85 -0,99 -1,06 -1,09 -1,06 -1,03 -1,02 -1,02 -1,01
User cost uim -0,47 -0,62 -0,75 -0,86 -0,94 -1,18 -1,24 -1,22 -1,16 -1,10
Wage lna -0,42 -0,78 -1,12 -1,41 -1,65 -2,20 -2,22 -2,07 -1,87 -1,66
Consumption price pcp -0,48 -0,67 -0,83 -0,97 -1,09 -1,48 -1,63 -1,66 -1,63 -1,56
Terms of trade bpe -0,33 -0,44 -0,54 -0,62 -0,69 -0,88 -0,92 -0,90 -0,86 -0,80
    Percentage-point
Consumption ratio bcp 0,13 -0,02 0,00 0,06 0,11 0,10 -0,04 -0,13 -0,14 -0,13
Wage share byw -0,15 -0,31 -0,43 -0,51 -0,54 -0,48 -0,38 -0,30 -0,23 -0,18

(See details)

 

Higher efficiency of labor and capital means that both factor inputs can be reduced, consequently investment and employment fall in the short term. The fall, particularly in machinery investment, reduces imports and depreciation, which increases gross operating surplus. As factors efficiency increases prices fall and net exports increase without relying on change in wages. Higher net exports increase production and employment. This offsets the initial fall in employment created by the increase in labor efficiency.

 

The initial fall in employment pushes wages and prices downward. This improves competitiveness and induce exports to rise even more. As in the previous experiment, the combined effect of higher efficiency and lower wages means that the short-term decrease in factor utilization disappears relatively quickly and the initial negative impact on employment is reversed quickly. In the long term, capital intensity and labor intensity fall by approximately 1 percent, excluding the housing sector.

 

There is a small positive impact on private consumption in the long run, due to the positive impact on real disposable income, which is stimulated as the higher productivity increases the real income of transfer recipients. The public budget improves in the long term.

 

Figure 14. The effect of a permanent increase in labor and capital efficiency

 

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fig_14_5_zoom38fig_14_6_zoom38

 

 

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