Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/198987 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 7627
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
How can a country improve the productivity growth in its business sector and reach its growth potential? Sweden during the 1970–2010 period can serve as an example to help other countries understand how to efficiently reform a business sector. In the 1990s, Sweden implemented a reform package that ignited a successful reorganization of a business sector that had faltered for decades. To understand the economic forces behind this process, we first survey the industrial restructuring literature and then examine the reform package using Swedish matched plant-firm-worker data. The removal of barriers to growth for new and productive firms and increased rewards for investment in human capital were crucial to the success of Sweden’s reforms. We also discuss how the reform experience from a developed country such as Sweden can be useful for developing countries that are in the process of transforming their business sectors. We also discuss evidence from developing countries that have undergone similar micro-based business sector reform programs. Our findings suggest that policymakers have much to learn from country case studies and that the Swedish experience can be a valuable case study for developing countries that are attempting to promote growth by developing their business sectors.
Subjects: 
regulations
allocative efficiency
productivity
job dynamics
matched employer-employee data
industrial structure and structural change
JEL: 
D22
E23
J21
J23
K23
L11
L16
L51
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.