Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/229242 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2020/18
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
This paper explores the contribution of structural change and the skill upgrading of the labour force to productivity. Our growth decomposition based on an original database we built for Tunisia and Turkey shows that productivity is mainly explained by intra-industry changes during the import substitution period. Second, we show that this productivity increase has been driven by the reallocation of higher-educated labour between sectors rather than the absorption of highly educated workers within sectors. Based on an instrumental variable regression setting, we also find evidence that the change in the share of high-educated workers had a causal impact on productivity levels. Moreover, when we exclude the government sector, the overall skills upgrading is negatively associated with productivity growth, suggesting a downward sloping return to educated labour demand over time.
Subjects: 
MENA
productivity
skills
structural change
Tunisia
Turkey
JEL: 
J24
L16
O47
O57
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-775-0
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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