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N° 2002-05 |
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| May |
Brazil and Mexico's Manufacturing Performance
in International Perspective,
1970-1999 |
| Nanno Mulder |
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| Sylvie Montout |
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| Luis Peres Lopes |
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| This paper studies the labour productivity
performances of Brazil and Mexico in international perspective in manufacturing
by comparing them with the United States, one of the international productivity
leaders, during the period 1970-99. Brazil and Mexico are compared separately
with the USA, in 1985 and 1988 respectively using the International Comparisons
of Output and Productivity (ICOP) method. With ICOP, detailed sectoral-specific
conversion factors (unit value ratios, UVRs) are estimated to express value added
per person engaged in a common currency. This paper shows that labour productivity
in Brazil was 43 per cent of the US level in 1985 and that in Mexico 27 per cent
of the US in 1988. The extrapolation to the 1970-99 period shows that the productivity
gaps of the Latin countries with the USA widened, in particular in the 1980s.
In the 1990s, Brazil managed to stabilise the productivity differential, whereas
Mexico continued to loose ground relative to the USA. |
Abstract |
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| Manufacturing, sectoral productivity levels
and trends, unit labour costs, the Americas |
Keywords |
| L6, 04 |
JEL classification |
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