Past Events

Webinar by Janne Huovari, Finnish Productivity Board

April 29, 2025, 3-4 p.m.
Join by using the following link: https://oenb.webex.com/oenb/j.php?MTID=md7f4050b9b56bf5468c7a4cd889db555

Abstract: Slow productivity growth has been one of Finland's main economic challenges since the financial crisis. Now, the Finnish economy is also facing rising global challenges relating to climate change and mitigation as well as to the shifting geopolitical environment. Unless effectively addressed, these challenges could undermine productivity growth. The green transition may also have a positive impact on labour productivity. Industrial policy measures may be needed to address the green transition and geopolitical issues.

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Year of publication: 2025
 

Webinar von Nicolai Kaarsen, DØRS – Danish Economic Councils

19.06.2024 15-16 Uhr

Teilnahme über Webex: https://oenb.webex.com/oenb/j.php?MTID=ma14ca1e52128dde4017cea7fa4981dac

Abstract: During the past 20 years, Danish firms have increased their exports of goods produced abroad that never cross the Danish border (so-called merchanting and processing activities). We find that the increase is driven by a handful of superstar manufacturing firms who have expanded globally using production in other countries. The rise of these superstars and their expanded foreign activities explain a substantial share of Danish productivity growth in recent years and also drive an increase in markups and a decrease in the labor share. Besides the analysis, the presentation will include a brief overview of the main policy recommendations and comments on recent Danish productivity policy from the 2024 productivity report.

Year of publication: 2024
 

Webinar by Siska Vandecandelaere and Chantal Kegels, National Productivity Board - Belgium

April 8, 2025, 3-4 p.m.
Join by using the following link: https://oenb.webex.com/oenb/j.php?MTID=m6643e5dfca23df583fdf605384d36003

Abstract: The presentation will focus on two thematic analyses of the Annual Report of 2024.

The first is the contribution of non-market services to productivity growth of the economy. In the absence of market prices for non-market services, it is not possible, based on national accounts alone, to construct a measure of the productivity of these activities of the same quality than the one for market activities. Therefore, we propose to look at other quantitative and qualitative indicators to better monitor the evolution of the contribution of these services to the economy as a whole. Given the importance of human capital in productivity growth, we focus our investigation in the context of this report on education.

A second theme explored in the 2024 report focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on productivity growth. Expectations are high, but does AI truly have the potential to revive sluggish productivity growth? And how does Belgium perform in terms of AI-adoption? In conclusion, we examine the most important barriers to AI-adoption and identify some key policy levers to fully realize the benefits of this new technology.

Year of publication: 2024
 

Webinar by Leon Bettendorf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Analysis 

May 22, 2024, 3-4 p.m.

Abstract: In earlier research we found no evidence for a growing productivity gap between frontier firms and the median firm in the period 2007-2015. In addition, we found that the composition of the top decile of productivity substantially changed from year to year. However, recent research on new datasets shows that the productivity gap started increasing during the last years and that around 90% of firms are remaining at the frontier.

The Austrian Productivity Board hosted the 3^rd Technical Support Instrument Workshop of CompNet, which took place in Vienna on February 22-23 2024. CompNet members, productivity board executives and representatives of national statistical offices from all over Europe met to discuss the current status of the development of a European microdata platform and recent research contributions with comparative microdata at the firm level.

This workshop was an activity in the „Microdata platform for productivity“ project supported by a grant of the European Commission Directorate-general for Structural Reform Support under grant agreement No. 101101853 and No. 101140673 (Austria).

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What do the Recovery and Resilience Plans tell us about linking transformation and innovation policy?

Webinar with DI DR. Matthias Weber
December 7, 2023

Governments are increasingly utilising research and innovation (R&I) policy to foster economic and societal change. Yet, the empirical correlation between these policies and socio-technical transformations remains under-explored. The report investigates this relationship by comparing the Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs) of Austria, Finland and Sweden, initiated under the NextGenerationEU framework post Covid-19. The report to be presented at this seminar investigates significant disparities in the content, process and transformative value of the RRPs among these countries. The differences in the content of the national RRPs, and the ability and willingness to seize the opportunity presented by the RRPs to drive transformation, are explained by existing national policy contexts and frameworks. Surprisingly, the role of R&I policy in the RRPs is less important than expected, despite its emphasised importance in literature and political rhetoric. The report further identifies implications for a transformative innovation policy as well as areas for further research.

Link to the report: https://doi.org/10.1787/45d3a149-en
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Webinar with  Alessandro Zona Mattioli — Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (vu.nl)

14.11.2023 11-12:30 CEST

Contrary to widespread concern about EU firms’ indebtedness, we show that EU corporate leverage is steadily declining in a clear reversal from its historical trend. Using tax filing data from the universe of French and Dutch firms, we find a consistent decline in both gross and net leverage since 2000—a trend that also occurs in other EU countries as well as among non-listed US firms. The decline occurred during periods of strong growth, sharp crises and recovery under very loose monetary policy. It is consistent across the entire size distribution, dividend and non-dividend paying firms, and firms with high or low productivity growth. It appears robust to financial constraint measures, and is not driven by survival bias. These results point to a significant decline in credit demand, which is supported by a 2SLS analysis using shocks to exporting firms’ investment opportunities. Our tentative conclusion is that most EU firms demand less credit because of reduced investment prospects, while a subset rely more on intangible assets that can be created with little debt financing.

Webinar with  Filippo di Mauro - IWH

14.11.2023 11-12:30 CEST

The 2023 Flagship Firm Productivity Report offers critical insights on the short-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis across several dimensions: firm-level productivity, competitiveness, potential output, the reallocation of resources, and firm concentration. The report also examines firm responses to energy price shocks and tighter credit constraints. The results are relevant for the post-COVID recovery across Europe, and for building resilience while waiting for the next crisis.

Link to the paper: CompNet_Productivity_Report_-_July_2023.pdf (comp-net.org)

Webinar by  Prof Slavo Radosevic | UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) - UCL – University College London.

11.10.2023

The webinar focuses on the challenge of institutionalizing experimentation in transformative innovation policy beyond initial pilot projects. It compares two experimental approaches: pilots and policy labs, and explores how to embed them into regional settings either via agencies or through grassroots stakeholder involvement. Drawing from EU regional innovation policy case studies, including Slovenia, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden, the analysis reveals that mainstream solutions like pilots and policy labs face significant hurdles. It advocates for a blend of top-down and bottom-up strategies facilitated by regional or national governments to successfully implement Partnerships for Regional Innovation (PRI). The study offers preliminary guidance on policy design to enhance the likelihood of scaling up innovations.

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Further reading:

S. Radosevic, D.Kanellou, G.Tsekouras (2023). The experimentation–accountability trade-off in innovation and industrial policy: are learning networks the solution? Science and Public Policy, Volume 50, Issue 4, August 2023, Pages 655–669, https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scad013

S. Radosevic, G. Tsekouras and P. Wostner. (2023). Institutionalising experimentation in innovation policy: challenges and solutions in upscaling, European Commission, Seville, Spain 2023, JRC134408

Online-Vortrag mit anschließender Diskussion von Dirk Pilat, Research Fellow am The Productivity Institute (UK) und Associate Researcher am Valencia Institute of Economic Research

01.02.2023
Dirk Pilat presented a comprehensive review of recent analytical work and policy recommendations from ten national productivity commissions, including those from countries such as Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, etc. He demonstrated that while these commissions face similar challenges, there are also some crucial areas of competitiveness and productivity improvement that have not received enough consideration, such as the interconnection between climate change and productivity, the significance of the public sector in enhancing productivity, and the impact of productivity growth on improving the standard of living and overall well-being.

D. Pilat (2023). The Rise of Pro-Productivity Institutions: A Review of Analysis and Policy Recommendations. Productivity Insights Paper No. 015, The Productivity Institute, Link.

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Online-Vortrag mit anschließender Diskussion von Dr. Niklas Garnadt, Generalsekretär des Sachverständigenrates für Wirtschaft

07.12.2022
In einem Online-Vortrag präsentiert Generalsekretär Dr. Niklas Garnadt vor einem Fachpublikum die Hauptergebnisse des Jahresgutachtens des SVR für Wirtschaft 2022/23. Der Vortrag fokussiert auf die Themen Energiekrise und Strukturwandel, Fachkräftesicherung und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und bietet die Möglichkeit zur anschließenden Diskussion der Ergebnisse

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