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Productivity Gains from Services Liberalization in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Bena
  • Peter Ondko
  • Evangelia Vourvachaki
Abstract
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.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Bena & Peter Ondko & Evangelia Vourvachaki, 2011. "Productivity Gains from Services Liberalization in Europe," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp452, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    • Handle: RePEc:cer:papers:wp452
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    Cited by:

    1. Vahagn Jerbashian & Anna Kochanova, 2016. "The impact of doing business regulations on investments in ICT," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 991-1008, May.
    2. Tarr, David, 2012. "Impact of services liberalization on industry productivity, exports and development : six empirical studies in the transition countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6023, The World Bank.
    3. Sophia P. Dimelis & Sotiris K. Papaioannou, 2016. "Entry Regulation, Public Ownership and TFP Growth: Industry-Level Evidence from South European Countries," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 84(6), pages 749-770, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    productivity; liberalization; allocative efficiency; services; firm-level data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • K23 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

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