Technological catching-up and structural convergence among US industries

Abstract

Using a non-parametric programming framework, we analyze technological catching-up and structural convergence among 63 North American industries over the period 1987–2016. These two convergence processes can be estimated by efficiency gaps decomposed into two components: a technical efficiency effect taking into account industry size heterogeneity and a structural component which highlights the impacts of an input-output deepening or expanding effect over time. Secondly, a panel data analysis is performed to link input and output price evolutions with changes in technological catching-up and structural convergence. Results clearly show that convergence is observed for both technical and structural components. The impact of these convergence processes on the US economy is estimated at around 0.56 percentage points of additional growth and could be related to the liberalization of international trade and the increase of import competition. Moreover, these two convergence processes have positive influence on final demand prices and profitability but negative impact on suppliers' prices while no effect can be established on employees' wages or capital providers' remunerations.