Back on the rails: Competition and productivity in state-owned industry

Sanghamitra Das, Kala Krishna, Sergey Lychagin, Rohini Somanathan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

We use a proprietary dataset on the floor-level operations at the largest rail mill in India to study the response of productivity to the threat of entry. Output per active shift increased by 28 percent over 3 years with minimal changes in physical capital and employment. By combining data on the timing of various training programs in the mill with shift-level variation in worker composition, we are able to attribute over half of the higher productivity to training specifically targeted toward improving rail output. Our work suggests high returns to knowledge-enhancing investment in emerging economies.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)136-162
Number of pages27
JournalAmerican Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2013

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Economics, Econometrics and Finance

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