We estimate total factor productivities at the sector level for 72 countries and 5 decades, and examine how they evolve over time in both developed and developing countries. In both country groups, there has been relative productivity convergence: productivity grew systematically faster in sectors that were initially relatively less productive. These changes have had a significant impact on tra...

The government of Algeria has adopted a new retrenchment system to facilitate labor shedding in a public sector characterized by redundant workers and in an environment of already high unemployment. This article assesses the financial viability of the retrenchment system and the inherent welfare costs and benefits associated with layoffs. A financial flows model tracks the Unemployment Insuranc...

We define the distinction between productivity and employment risk and estimate the components of risk using wage and mobility data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We then calibrate a model of intertemporal consumption and labor supply and study the effect of the two sources of risk on precautionary saving and labor supply. Finally, we measure the relative welfare costs of employment a...

If the benchmark model without frictions can replicate the stylized facts of the business cycle, the cycles may be just an efficient phenomenon generated by markets in response to certain shocks, such as, for example, productivity shocks. Furthermore, if markets are complete and individuals can diversify risk, Lucas (1987) calculated the welfare cost of the aggregate fluctuations to be negligible.

This point reflects today’s holistic understanding of welfare as the state of the animal’s mind and body and the extent to which its nature is satisfied (3). If veterinarians are to do more for animal welfare, it is not enough for them to identify that herd productivity is down, that an animal is sick, or that the environment predisposes animals to illness. Even when an animal is healthy and th...

Most of the Indian breeds of domestic ruminants are well adapted to the harsh environment, low nutrition, tropical disease. Animal welfare and productivity are affected by endoparasite infestation. Parasites cause economic losses through decreased production, cost of prophylaxis and treatment, and death of infected animals. The proper management of internal parasites is extremely important for ...

Employee matching grant schemes are coordination mechanisms that reduce free-riding by socially-conscious employee-donors. Their prevalence demonstrates that socially-responsible firms can survive market competition. When socially-conscious employees are more productive or value working together, matching schemes can enhance employee welfare and raise more for charities without reducing investo...

This paper addresses capital accumulation and capital productivity change in an economy with endogenous technological change and floors and ceilings in activity. The properties of the resulting two-variable noniinear differential equation system are studied in some detail. The welfare implications are also considered. When discrete lags are introduced, wide-ranging behaviour emerges, which incl...

A clear break in the post-World War I1 pattern of rapid productivity growth was a virtually universal phenomenon across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, in most of them beginning in the early 1970s. This development had implications for both the evolution of aggregate supply, as well as the growth of real income and the types of macroeconomic and structura...

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) bacteria are a significant challenge to the poultry industry. Bacteriophages (phages) have the potential to control APEC strains, increasing animal welfare and economic productivity. Here, we report the isolation of an E. coli-infecting phage, APC_JM3.2, isolated from the cecum of a broiler chicken in Ireland.