NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, INC.

 

International Productivity Differences Within Firms

 

Meeting for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Project on

International Differences in the Business Practices and Productivity of

Multinational Firms in Advanced Capitalist Countries

 

August 5, 2004

 

Richard Freeman and Kathryn Shaw, Organizers

 

Royal Sonesta Hotel

5 Cambridge Parkway

Cambridge, MA

 

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4:

 

 

 7:00 p.m.

Group Dinner

 

Davio=s at the Royal Sonesta Hotel

 

 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5:

 

 

 8:30 a.m.

Coffee and Pastries

 

 

 9:00 a.m.

Introduction: RICHARD FREEMAN and KATHRYN SHAW

 

 

 9:10 a.m.

ANDREW WARNER, National Bureau of Economic Research

 

What is the US-European Country Productivity Gap: Analysis of the Groningen Data

 

and Global Competitiveness Report Questions, 2003 Survey

 

 

NON-MANUFACTURING

 

 

 9:30 a.m.

CATHERINE WOLFRAM, UC, Berkeley and NBER

 

JAMES  BUSHNEL, UC,  Berkeley 

 

Personnel, Information Technology and the Productivity of Electricity Generation

 

 

 

ALEC LEVENSON, University of Southern California

 

The Productivity and Cost-Benefit Tradeoff of Globally Distributed Software Development

 

 

 

FRANCINE LAFONTAINE, University of Michigan

 

International Productivity Differences in Fast Food Outlets

 

 

10:30 a.m.

Break

 

 

MANUFACTURING

 

 

 

10:45 a.m.

SUE HELPER, Case Western Reserve University and NBER

 

MORRIS KLEINER, University of Minnesota and NBER

 

The Effects of Gainsharing Plans across International Auto Parts Plants

 

 

 

ANN BARTEL and CASEY ICHNIOWSKI, Columbia University and NBER

 

KATHRYN SHAW, Stanford University and NBER

 

An International Comparison of Information Technology and Skill Demand in Valve Manufacturing

 

 

 

NEILS WESTERGRAND-NIELSON AND TOR ERIKSSON, Aarhus School of Business

 

Incentives and International Performance Differences across Pharmaceutical Plants

 

 

11:45 a.m.

Wrap-up discussion

 

 

12:15 p.m.

Lunch and Adjourn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7/26/04