About the database

The Long-Term Productivity database was created as a project at the Bank of France in 2013 by Antonin Bergeaud, Gilbert Cette and Remy Lecat. Following the work of Cette, Mairesse and Kocoglu (2009), we extended the database to include 17 countries in the latest version (2016).

The latest version can be downloaded here

What is in the database?

The latest version of the database includes the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. We offer data on Total Factor Productivity per hour worked, Labor productivity per hour worked, capital intensity and GDP per capita. These series cover at least the period 1890 to present annually. In addition, other data corresponding to each of the papers linked to this project are available. This includes: age of capital stock, education attainment, electricity production per capita...

Waves

We also offer additional transformed series, in particular the waves of productivity and GDP per capita growth constructed using a HP filter with parameter 500.

Waves of GDP per capita growth for the USA, the Euro Area, Japan and the UK.

Definition of the variables

  • TFP: Solow residual from a constant return to scale Cobb-Douglas production function with capital stock and hours worked as input.
  • LP: Labor productivity defined as the ratio of GDP over total hours worked.
  • KI: Capital intensity defined as the ratio of total capital stock over total hours worked.
  • GDPPC: GDP per capita.

    • All variables are calculated using GDP and capital stock series converted in US dollars of 2010 ppp. Ratio of TFP per hours worked for Japan over the US.

    Authors

    The long term productivity project was founded and is currently managed by three economists who continue to improve the database.

    Antonin Bergeaud

    A. Bergeaud

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    Antonin Bergeaud is an economist at the Bank of France and a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Performance. His research interests focus on innovation and productivity. More specifically, his research consider the link between innovation and inequalities, the trends of economic growth in the long-run and the future of productivity growth.

    Gilbert Cette

    G. Cette

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    Gilbert Cette has a PhD in Economics from the University of Paris 1. He is Deputy General Director, Economics and International, at the Banque de France, and Associate Professor at the University of Aix-Marseille. His research focuses on growth, productivity, labor market and structural reforms. He published articles in the American Economic Rerview (P&P), the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of the European Economic Association, and the Review of Income and Wealth, among others. He published several books on economic policy and reforms.

    Remy Lecat

    R. Lecat

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    Rémy Lecat graduated from Sciences Po, Cambridge University and has a PhD from the Paris School of Economics. He heads the Trade and Structural Policy Analysis Division of the Banque de France. His research focuses on productivity, production function and the housing market. He published articles in the Review of Economics and Statistics and the Review of Income and Wealth, among others.

    Other contributors

    Other people have participated or are currently participating to the project.

    Carole Ly-Marin

    C. Ly-Marin

    Carole Ly-Marin is a graduate student in Finance at ESCP Europe specializing in market economy. She had previously done her internship at the Bank of France within the framework of her master's degree in Macroeconomics at the Aix-Marseille School of Economics.

    Margot Marchais-Maurice

    M. Marchais-Maurice

    Margot Marchais—Maurice is a graduate student in social sciences at Ecole Normale Supérieure (Cachan), specializing in quantitative economics. She is also pursuing a Master of Science in Management at ESSEC Business School.