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Robotic or automatic milking systems (AMS) are novel technologies that take over the labor of dairy farming and reduce the need for human-animal interactions. Because robotic milking involves the replacement of 'conventional' twice-a-day milking managed by people with a system that supposedly allows cows the freedom to be milked automatically whenever they choose, some claim robotic milking has health and welfare benefits for cows, increases productivity, and has lifestyle advantages for dairy farmers. This paper examines how established ethical relations on dairy farms are unsettled by the intervention of a radically different technology such as AMS. The renegotiation of ethical relationships is thus an important dimension of how the actors involved are re-assembled around a new technology. The paper draws on in-depth research on UK dairy farms comparing those using conventional milking technologies with those using AMS. We explore the situated ethical relations that are negotiated in practice, focusing on the contingent and complex nature of human-animal-technology interactions. We show that ethical relations are situated and emergent, and that as the identities, roles, and subjectivities of humans and animals are unsettled through the intervention of a new technology, the ethical relations also shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the joint impact of international trade and technological change on UK wages across different skill groups. International trade is measured as changes in product prices and technological change as total factor productivity (TFP) growth. We take account of a multi-sector and multi-factor of production economy and use mandated wage methodology in order to create an well-balanced approach in terms of theoretical and empirical cohesion. We use data from the EU KLEMS database and analyse the impact of both product price changes and TFP changes of 11 UK manufacturing sectors on factor rewards of high-, medium- and low-skilled workers. Results show that real wages of skill groups are significantly driven by the sector bias of price change and TFP growth of several sectors of production. Furthermore, we estimate the share of the three different skill groups on added value for each year from 1970 to 2005. The shares indicate structural change in the UK economy. Results show a structural change owing to decreasing shares of low-skilled workers and increasing shares of medium-skilled and high-skilled workers over the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an empirical analytical framework for agglomeration economies based on a translog production-inverse input demand system. Estimation of the system allows us to identify effects on total factor productivity (TFP), partial factor productivity, factor prices and factor demands. It also provides a decomposition of the aggregate agglomeration elasticity into returns that arise from the increased efficiency of factor inputs and a “direct” agglomeration effect which exists over and above any factor augmentation. This enables us to indirectly address the problem of unobserved heterogeneity in factor “quality”. The paper provides an empirical application of the model using firm level data for UK manufacturing and service industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the role of the efficiency gap in determining whether or not domestic firms benefit from productivity spillovers from FDI. We use establishment level data for the period 1980–1992 for the UK. Given that there is substantial heterogeneity of productivity across sectors we focus on two manufacturing sectors in detail, namely, electronics and engineering. We allow for different effects of FDI on establishments located at different quantiles of the productivity distribution by using conditional quantile regression. Overall, while there is some heterogeneity in results across sectors and quantiles, our findings clearly suggest that the efficiency gap matters for productivity spillover benefits. We find evidence for a u-shaped relationship between productivity growth and FDI interacted with the efficiency gap. We also analyse in some detail the impact of changes in relative efficiency on establishments’ ability to benefit from spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) using a British plant-level dataset. It considers the role of the following four plant characteristics: internal and external knowledge; foreign ownership; multi-plant economies of scale and competition; and spatial spillovers and 'place' effects. A wide range of results are obtained, most of which confirm earlier results in the literature, such as that undertaking R&D is positively associated with TFP and most foreign ownership groups have higher than average TFP. The results also confirm the very small number of studies in the literature that have shown that the age of the plant is negatively related to TFP and therefore that vintage effects outweigh any learning-by-doing effects. The inclusion of a wide range of determinants of TFP allows comment on the relative importance of different groups of TFP determinants; knowledge creation is found to be the most important determinant of TFP (especially in manufacturing), with spatial location impacts overall the next largest determinant. Foreign-ownership is founded to be (overall) the least important determinant of TFP although this is partly the consequence of the relatively small size of the foreign-owned sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyse the impact of regulation in the financial performance of the Water and Sewerage companies (WaSCs) in England and Wales over the period 1991-2008. In doing so, a panel index approach is applied across WaSCs over time to decompose unit-specific index number-based profitability growth as a function of the profitability, productivity and price performance growth achieved by benchmark firms, and the catch up to the benchmark firm achieved by less productive firms. The results indicated that after 2000 there is a steady decline in average price performance, while productivity improves resulting in a relatively stable economic profitability. It is suggested that the English and Welsh water regulator is now more focused on passing productivity benefits to consumers, and maintaining stable profitability than it was in earlier regulatory periods. This technique is of great interest for regulators to evaluate the effectiveness of regulation and companies to identify the determinants of profit change and improve future performance, even if sample sizes are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 20 years labour has become increasingly mobile and whilst employment and earnings effects in host countries have been extensively analysed, the implications for firm and industry performance have received far less attention. This paper explores the direct economic consequences of immigration on host nations' productivity performance at a sectoral level in two very different European countries, Spain and the UK. Whilst the UK has traditionally seen substantial immigration, for Spain the phenomenon is much more recent. Our findings from a growth accounting analysis show that migration has made a negative contribution to labour productivity growth in Spain and a negative but negligible contribution in the UK. This difference is driven by a positive impact from migrant labour quality in the UK. This finding broadly holds across all sectors, but we note considerable variation in magnitudes. Labour productivity growth has a neutral contribution from migrant labour in construction and personal services in the UK, whilst in every case in Spain the effect is negative, most strongly in agriculture. Using an econometric approach to production function estimation we observe a positive long term effect on total factor productivity from migrant workers in the UK and a negative effect in Spain. Our findings suggest that either the UK is better at assimilating migrants or is more selective in terms of who is permitted to migrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK’s business R&D (BERD) to GDP ratio is low compared to other leading economies, and the ratio has declined over the 1990s. This paper uses data on 719 large UK firms to analyse the link between R&D and productivity during 1989–2000. The results indicate that UK returns to R&D are similar to returns in other leading economies and have been relatively stable over the 1990s. The analysis suggests that the low BERD to GDP ratio in the UK is unlikely to be due to direct financial or human capital constraints (as these imply finding relatively high rates of return). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the usefulness of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to aid decision making In multi-level retail organizations. It is argued that market efficiency is a key performance measurement dimension in retail organizations. The paper proposes three variants of market efficiency that correspond to different tiers of management in a multi-level setting. The disentanglement of market efficiency will lead to the development of the Performance Improvement Decision Aid System (PIDAS) which seeks to classify units on dusters of different performance profile. The method is illustrated using data from a restaurant chain in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the productivity spillovers from the UK government's decision to use extensive property tax reductions as a key instrument to stimulate innovation in smaller businesses and drive local growth. To capture the complex interaction and clustering of hierarchical effects, we apply non-parametric Random Effects Expectation Maximisation algorithm that complements more standard econometric estimators, namely matching to control for endogeneity and control functions to estimate total factor productivity. These approaches enabled us to incorporate various contextual configurations in comparing the recipients of these reductions to non-recipients with regard to productivity, in which the UK has experienced a considerably worse performance than its peers since the great recession. Contrary to policy assumptions and business community expectations, we show that generic tax reductions, when significant, are mostly associated with lower productivity and thus have been unsuitably chosen as a policy mechanism to stimulate productivity growth. We further show how instruments that are not built for causality could be beneficial for policy evaluation. Plain English Summary: Reductions in small business property tax will not solve UK productivity problem. We investigate the productivity spillovers from the UK government's decision to use extensive property tax reductions as a key instrument to stimulate innovation in smaller businesses and drive local growth. We incorporate various contextual interactions in comparing the recipients of these reductions to non-recipients with regard to productivity, in which the UK has experienced a considerably worse performance than its peers since the great recession. Contrary to policy assumptions and business community expectations, we show that generic tax reductions, when significant, are mostly associated with lower productivity and thus have been unsuitably chosen as a policy mechanism to stimulate productivity growth. Thus, the principal implication of this study is that instead of generic tax incentives based on building and land value, policy should be more nuanced and targeted, enabling the inclusion of finer-grained characteristics. We also contribute to methodology development by showing how configuration approaches, centring on non-linearity and equifinality, could be enabled through the application of machine learning to study organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates interactions between exporting and productivity at the firm level, using a panel of firms in the UK chemical industry. This is both highly technology intensive and the UK's largest exporting sector. We find exporters are more productive titan non-exporters, but are also on average smaller. This superior productivity performance among exporters appears to be caused by both sell-selection and learning-by-exporting effects. In contrast to other studies, we find learning effects are significantly positive among new entrants, weaker for more experienced exporters and negative for established exporters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines intra-industry productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) in the UK manufacturing sector. The empirical analysis uses panel data for 48 UK industries over the period 19911995. A major contribution is empirical evidence on spillover effects in situations where the host country is developed. The results indicate that the very presence of FDI has a positive spillover impact on the productivity of UK-owned firms. The analysis also shows that the extent to which local firms benefit from the introduction of advanced technology depends largely on their own technological capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There has been considerable debate on whether productivity costs should be captured in the numerator or the denominator of the cost-effectiveness ratio. That debate cannot be resolved on the basis of theoretical arguments alone because the final choice also depends on what is incorporated in health-state valuations by respondents and how this influences outcomes. At the moment, little is known about whether the effects of ill health on income are included in health-state valuations, and how instructions on including or excluding the effects on income influence health-state valuations.Aim: To conduct an empirical study of health-state valuations to test: (i) whether or not respondents spontaneously include the effect of ill health on income and leisure time; (ii) the impact on the valuation of inclusion (or exclusion) of such effects; and (iii) the influence of explicit instructions on this matter.Methods: Three questionnaires were developed and administered to the general public. Health-state valuations were conducted by visual analogue scale scoring of three health states of differing severity taken from the EQ-5D. Version 1 had no directions regarding inclusion/exclusion of effects of ill health on income. Those respondents who spontaneously included effects on income were subsequently asked to value the same three health states again, excluding these effects. Version 2 had explicit instructions to incorporate the effects on income. Version 3 stated that income was assumed to not change as a result of ill health. Respondents for versions 2 and 3 were also questioned about inclusion of effects on leisure time.Results: Giving explicit instructions on the incorporation or exclusion of effects of ill health on income did not lead to significant differences in subsequent health-state valuations. In the absence of instruction, 36% of respondents included and 64% excluded effects on income, but the health-state valuations of the two groups were not significantly different. Eighty-four percent of respondents included the effects of ill health on leisure activities, and again this had no significant impact on the resulting health-state valuations.Conclusions: It appears that neither spontaneous differences in incorporation of effects on income, nor explicit instructions will yield significantly different health-state valuations. This may suggest that QALY measures are insensitive to concerns regarding effects on income even when these are (explicitly) incorporated, and these effects may therefore be best placed on the cost side of the cost-effectiveness ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]