Americans Do IT Better: US Multinationals and the Productivity Miracle
American Economic Review
vol. 102,
no. 1, February 2012
(pp. 167-201)
Abstract
US productivity growth accelerated after 1995 (unlike Europe's), particularly in sectors that intensively use information technologies (IT). Using two new micro panel datasets we show that US multinationals operating in Europe also experienced a "productivity miracle." US multinationals obtained higher productivity from IT than non-US multinationals, particularly in the same sectors responsible for the US productivity acceleration. Furthermore, establishments taken over by US multinationals (but not by non-US multinationals) increased the productivity of their IT. Combining pan-European firm-level IT data with our management practices survey, we find that the US IT related productivity advantage is primarily due to its tougher "people management" practices. (JEL D24, E23, F23, M10, M16, O30)Citation
Bloom, Nicholas, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen. 2012. "Americans Do IT Better: US Multinationals and the Productivity Miracle." American Economic Review, 102 (1): 167-201. DOI: 10.1257/aer.102.1.167Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D24 Production; Cost; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
- E23 Macroeconomics: Production
- F23 Multinational Firms; International Business
- M10 Business Administration: General
- M16 International Business Administration
- O30 Technological Change; Research and Development; Intellectual Property Rights: General