Factor shares and growth accounting in colombia (1984-2005). A new growth accounting methodology

Abstract

We provide three basic elements for the analysis of the economic growth in Colombia: In order to get the factor shares, we separate produced physical capital income from natural capital income and raw labor income from the human capital income. We find that the share of reproducible factors has an increasing trend (as suggested by biased innovations models). Second, given the non-stationarity of the factor shares, in order to compute the multifactorial productivity, we need to find correct measures of the factors. We use an empirical method to identify such measures and we apply it to Colombian data. Finally, using the new calculations, we perform an exercise of growth accounting. This procedure allows us to identify with more precision the behavior of total factor productivity.