Technical Diffusion, Productivity Convergence and Specialisation in OECD Manufacturing

A panel data regression analysis investigates the issue of total factor productivity (TFP) convergence in OECD manufacturing during the period 1970-1995. The results imply: conditional β convergence, actual catching up and stronger convergence at a disaggregate level than at the level of manufacturing as a whole. The evolution of the standard deviation of the log of TFP shows that there is also evidence of σ convergence. The stronger convergence of TFP at a disaggregate level is explained by a high level of OECD manufacturing production specialisation, which is also shown to be very persistent. The degree of research specialisation is shown to be even higher and equally sticky. A correlation analysis shows that both specialisation patterns are related.