Productivity in the pulp and paper industries of the United States and Canada: a nonparametric analysis

Abstract

Partial and total measures of factor productivity are presented for the pulp and paper industries of the United States and Canada, from 1959 to 1987. Total factor productivity was measured with (1) a Tornqvist–Theil index, (2) a nonparametric index with translating hypothesis, and (3) a nonparametric index with distance functions. Method 1 implied a constant return to scale translog production function. Methods 2 and 3 removed any assumption on the functional form of the production function. Furthermore, method 3 allowed for fully disaggregated outputs. Methods 1 and 3 gave similar results within countries: an increase in total factor productivity of 0.7% per year in the United States and of 0.5% per year in Canada. Method 2 gave rates of growth of total factor productivity that were twice as high, but unreliable because of the assumptions of the method. From 1961 to 1984, when comparable data are available, methods 1 and 3 gave growth rates of total factor productivity that were significantly higher, statistically, in the United States than in Canada. Nevertheless, the differences seem to be too small to be of economic significance.

Production Efficiency and Size in Norwegian Sawmilling

“…Nyrud & Baardsen (2002) is, to the authors' knowledge, the only study on sawmilling conducted by the means of DEA. Other non-parametric productivity analyses in the forest research are Brännlund et al (1995), Hseu & Buongiorno (1994) and Buongiorno et al (1981).…”

Productivity changes of pulp and paper industry in OECD countries, 1991–2000: a non-parametric Malmquist approach

“…Canadian productivity increased by 2.0%, which is much better than the 0.5% annual growth between 1961 and 1984 (Hseu and Buongiorno, 1994). The Nordic nations (Finland, Norway and Sweden) recorded 1.2 -1.5% improvement in performance.…”

“…First, the parametric method consisted of deriving productivity by estimating production, cost or profit functions econometrically (Sherif, 1983;De Borger and Buongiorno, 1985;Martinello, 1985;Nautiyal and Singh, 1986;Bernstein, 1989;Quicke et al, 1990). The second approach applied the Törnqvist-Theil index to measure productivity (Frank et al, 1990;Oum et al, 1990;Hseu and Buongiorno, 1994). Both approaches require, explicitly or implicitly, a specific assumption about the form of the production technology.…”

“…To aggregate inputs and outputs, the Törnqvist-Theil index requires cost or revenue shares, which are hard to obtain, especially in cross-nation analysis. The third approach, based on the weak axiom of profit maximization, calculated the distance functions by using programming methods (Hseu and Buongiorno, 1994).…”

An examination of value-added and variable cost trends across Canadian forest regions and sectors

“…Since this time, a number of forest sectors have experienced increases in efficiency, productivity, and overall competitiveness (see, for instance, Frank et al 1990, Ghebremichael et al 1990, Brunet 1993, Abt et al 1994, Bernstein 1994, Hseu and Buongiorno 1994, Lantz 1995, Kant and Nautiyal 1997, Hailu and Veeman 2003. It can be reasonably argued that the strategies introduced and facilitated in the early 1980s are partly responsible for the increased profit levels that many forest sectors have been experiencing since the mid 1990s.…”