PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN UNITED-KINGDOM COMPANIES, 1975-1986

This paper is concerned with the analysis of total factor productivity at the company level using a panel of over 100 U.K. manufacturing companies. The main empirical conclusions are: (i) Higher levels of debt are associated with increases in both the level and the growth rate of productivity. (ii) Increases in market share are associated with falls in the level of productivity, while companies with a higher market share experience higher productivity growth. (iii) Productivity growth was higher in union firms during 1979-1984, and might have been lower during 1975-1978.