01828cas a2200241 a 4500 AALejournalIMF009747 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781451868661 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Tressel, Thierry. Does Technological Diffusion Explain Australia's Productivity Performance? / Thierry Tressel. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2008. 1 online resource (42 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students This paper analyzes the impact of product and labor market policies on technological diffusion and multi-factor productivity (MFP) in a panel of industries in 15 OECD countries over the period 1980 to 2003, with a special focus on Australia. We use a simple convergence empirical framework to show that, on average, convergence of MFP within industries across countries has slowed-down in the 1990s. In contrast, Australian industries have significantly caught-up with industry productivity best practices over the past 16 years, and have benefited from the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). We show that reforms of both the labor and product markets since the early 1990s can explain Australia's productivity performance and adoption of ICTs. Mode of access: Internet IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2008/004 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2008/004/001.2008.issue-004-en.xml IMF e-Library