earticle

영어

This study investigates into the regional total factor productivities movements in Korea, with a special focus on Chungnam province. The main findings of this study can be summarized as follows. First, when we set the average level of total factor productivity of provinces of Korea’s manufacturing sectors as 1.00, then the relative productivity of Chungnam turns out to be 1.00, which is exactly the same as the average level(1.00). If we subdivide the manufacturing sector into 24 sub categories, then Chungnam’s productivity shows relatively higher level than other provinces in Pharmaceuticals·Medicinal·Chemicals(1.14), Other Manufacturing(1.11), Electrical Equipment(1.09), Leather·Luggage·Footwear(1.08), Other Machinery and Equipment(1.07) etc. However, it shows relatively lower levels in Textiles(0.88), Chemicals·Chemical Products(0.97), Basic Metal Products(0.89), and Medical·Precision·Optical Instruments. Second, we can find the productivity level of Chungnam has increased sharply from 0.88 in 1999 to 1.00 in 2014, following Daejeon, Kangwon, Kwangju and Seoul. However, the sharp increase of productivity of Chungnam seems to be stagnated since 2010. We infer the sharp increase of productivity of Chungnam until 2009 due to the productivity increase in Printing, Coke and Refined Petroleum Products, Chemicals and Chemical Products, Pharmaceuticals and Medicinal Chemical, Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products, Electronic Components and Products, Electrical Equipments etc. However, the stagnation of productivity since 2010 seems to be due to the productivity standing still of the above high productivity growth sectors and the productivity decline of the Leather·Luggage Footwear·Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products, Medical Precision and Optical Instruments etc. Third, we can hardly find any significant evidence of technical efficiency differences among the regions, even if we estimated them by various methodologies such as stochastic production frontier analysis, Malmquist productivity index decomposition analysis etc. This seems to be due to the fact that same company operates in different regions by its branches and as a highly centralized and small country, even with provincial government system, the institution and business environment of each province is hardly different in individual regions in Korea. This phenomenon appears to be more deepening in recent years.