Productivity Change in the Telecommunications Industries of 13 OECD Countries

This paper focuses on the evolution of productivity in the telecommunications industries for 13 OECD countries over the period 1979-1998. It uses Data Envelopment Analysis, a non-parametric approach that allows decompositions of changes in productivity into varia-tions in efficiency and technical change. Moreover, it tests the existence of convergence in labor and total factor productivity levels among the 13 OECD countries by means of a cross-section technique. Key words: labor productivity; total factor productivity; data envelopment analysis; convergence JEL classification: D24 1