Tackling productivity questions

Abstract

The global productivity slowdown has been a significant economic challenge, particularly since the global financial crisis of 2008. This thesis focuses on current issues in productivity, particularly the productivity slowdown in the United States and the United Kingdom. Understanding the determinants of the productivity, especially in the US and UK, is crucial to enhance productivity and foster sustainable economic growth. This thesis investigates the factors influencing firm-level productivity over the past five decades, structured into three chapters. The first chapter focuses on the effect of employment protection laws, specifically the Good faith exception on firm level productivity in the US. We take into account the crucial role of financial leverage and examine the productivity effects for firms that reduce their financial leverage in response to increased employment protection. The second chapter examines the management practices of small businesses in Northern Ireland. We conduct the Northern Ireland Management practices survey 2022 and collect extensive data for a wide range of small businesses. Utilizing this data, we assess the effect of structured management practices on firm performance, business innovation, and the extent of working from home. The third chapter investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty on firm level productivity in the UK. It also explores the regional variation in productivity across the UK, to determine if certain regions might be more susceptible to economic policy uncertainty. These three chapters collectively illustrate the nature of productivity determinants at the firm level. They highlight how employment protection laws, management practices and economic policy uncertainty, each uniquely influence different measures of productivity.

Thesis embargoed until 31 July 2028.

Date of Award	Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	CITI-GENS MSCA COFUND Doctoral Training Programme
Supervisor	Philip Fliers (Supervisor), John Turner (Supervisor) & David Jordan (Supervisor)