The productivity dispersion of the Korean manufacturing industry and macroeconomic allocation efficiency measures

Abstract

According to the macroeconomic allocation efficiency measure, particularly based on the methodology of Hsieh and Klenow (2009), Korea’s allocation efficiency in the manufacturing industry deteriorated in the 2000s compared to that in the 1990s. This study compares the potential TFP gain when resource allocation is removed, an indicator of allocation inefficiency according to Hsieh and Klenow (2009), and the productivity dispersion in the Korean manufacturing industry. It finds that the TFP gain may be better explained by TFP dispersions rather than proxies related to factors of distortion. The findings imply that we should investigate the sources of TFP dispersion rather than the sources of distortion to explain increases in the TFP gain (or TFP loss), which is considered as allocation inefficiency in the literature.