Researchers have long been puzzled by ICT's (Information and Communication Technology) contributions towards (productivity) growth. This paper investigates and reveals the multi-facets of ICT productivity and the mechanism through which ICT affects productivity by bringing all the distinct streams of existing findings together. In particular, we develop a two-level frontier-efficiency model to examine how ICT's direct and indirect impact on different components of productivity is related to the economic growth in the US. Our empirical analysis has confirmed that ICT investment does contribute to productivity but not in the usual manner -we find a positive (but lagged) ICT effect on technological progress. We argue that for a positive ICT role on growth to actually take place, a period of negative relationship between productivity and ICT investment together with ICTusing sectors' capacity to learn from the embodied new technology was crucial. In addition, it took a learning period with appropriate complementary co-inventions for the new ICT-capital to become effective and its gains to be realized. Our findings provide solid, further empirical evidence to support ICT as a general purpose technology.

Applying the stochastic frontier framework, this study explores the diffusion and absorption of technological knowledge in China's manufacturing firms, based on a panel of more than 10,000 local and foreign-invested firms over the period 1998-2001. Our empirical approach allows us to distinguish between technological progress (TP) and technical efficiency (TE) in analysing whether R&D, exports and the presence of foreign direct investment simultaneously enhance TP through knowledge spillovers in a single framework and whether different types of domestic absorptive capacity moderate external knowledge spillovers in relation to TE. The results show that there are positive interindustry productivity spillovers from R&D and foreign presence, whereas evidence of intra-industry productivity spillovers from FDI to Chinese firms is less robust. We find evidence that absorptive capacity is one of the key determinants to quantitatively explain intra-industry differences in productivity of local Chinese firms. The findings have important policy implications.

Applying a Stochastic Production Frontier to sector-level data within manufacturing sector in India, this paper examines Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth during 1979-80 to 1997-98. The analysis focuses on the trend of technical progress (TP) and Technical Efficiency Change (TEC). The empirical result suggests that the TFP growth in a large number of industries have improved during 1997-98 compared to 1980-81. TFP growth is mainly driven by TP not by TEC in case of Indian economy since the coefficient of TEC is negative. In the light of empirical results, the policy implication is that the priority to boost economic growth should be in the enhancement of productivity based catching-up capability. In this direction, an efficiency oriented action plan aimed to improve productivity efficiency of manufacturing sectors is required to be implemented for removing the fiscal and financial constraints faced by the enterprises which are located in industrially backward areas.JEL Classifications: D24, L60, O30, O53, O47

Despite the great achievement of three decades of economic reform, the Chinese banking sector takes the blame for its dysfunctional system, especially the large amount of non-performing loans. The ease of foreign banks' entry set by the WTO from December 2007 raises our concern of the capability of domestic banks to compete against foreign Asian banks. This study attempts to address this issue by measuring the cost efficiency of ten major Asian banking industries from 1998 to 2005 using panel data stochastic frontier approaches. Based on our preferred consistent panel data estimating models, the higher cost efficiency score from including cross-country environmental variables suggests that differences between countries can explain part of the inefficiency. We also find that the overall cost efficiency level of Chinese commercial banks ranks in the fifth place, suggesting that Chinese banks still need to strengthen their ability in competition. Some policy implications are also suggested.stochastic frontier approach, panel data, banking efficiency,

Despite increasing interest in the relationship between trade and macroeconomic performance in development economics, very limited studies have been conducted on the causal links between exports and productivity growth in Asian economies. This paper examines empirically the interplay between exports and productivity growth for eight East Asian economies in a multivariate framework by applying bound tests and modified Wald tests. The results indicate that causality is bi-directional in the case of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, while unidirectional from productivity to exports for Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. These findings provide little support for the conventional export-led growth hypothesis.