The Political Economy of Productivity: Analysis of the Effects of Public Policy on Productivity Growth in OECD Countries

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25518012
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 公共政策
• Research Institution: The University of Kitakyushu
• Principal Investigator: Sakamoto Takayuki 北九州市立大学, 法学部, 教授 (10298557)
• Research Collaborator: Danforth Benjamin US Social Security Administration, Office of Economic Analysis and Comparative Studies, Social Science Research Analyst
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 経済成長 / 公共政策 / 人的資本投資 / 教育政策 / 家族政策 / 労働市場政策 / 生産性の成長 / 社会投資

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to examine whether and how human capital formation policies by governments―such as education, family support, and labor market policies―promote productivity growth in OECD countries. The findings are that education and family support spending promotes productivity growth. I also find that there are four worlds of productivity growth among OECD countries by decomposing labor productivity growth into multifactor productivity (MFP) growth and capital deepening. The four worlds are: (1) human capital investment- and MFP growth-dominant Nordic countries; (2) physical capital investment- and labor productivity growth-dominant liberal countries; (3) continental European countries whose moderately high human capital investments create decently high MFP growth, but whose low physical capital investments push down their labor productivity; and (4) South European countries with both the lowest human capital investment and lowest productivity growth.

Free Research Field

政治学　比較政治経済　比較福祉国家