Download Dataset
Download metadata

Productivity and Factor Accumulation in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Database 2014 Update

By Department of Research and Chief Economist (VPS/RES/RES)

Overview

The Productivity and Factor Accumulation in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Database 2014 Update assembles internationally comparable measures of productivity and the production inputs behind them. It reports labor productivity (LP), capital-and-labor productivity (KLP) and Total Factor Productivity (TFP), following the methodology developed by Daude and Fernández-Arias, together with the underlying series used to construct those indicators.

The database covers a broad cross-section of countries spanning Latin America and the Caribbean alongside comparator economies from other regions, which allows users to benchmark the region's productivity performance against the rest of the world over several decades. Because the inputs to the productivity calculations are distributed alongside the headline measures, researchers can reproduce, adjust or extend the estimates under alternative assumptions.

Why productivity matters

Productivity growth is one of the central explanations for long-run differences in income and living standards across countries. A persistent theme in the Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) research is that Latin America and the Caribbean's development gap is driven less by a shortage of capital or labor than by how efficiently those factors are combined — that is, by Total Factor Productivity. Datasets like this one give that diagnosis an empirical foundation, making it possible to decompose growth into the part explained by factor accumulation and the part explained by productivity.

What the data contain

The dataset is published as a knowledge product of the IDB and includes the productivity database in machine-readable formats (CSV and Stata .dta), a variable dictionary describing each field, and a PDF document describing the database and its construction. Together these resources let analysts move directly from the raw series to the TFP estimates.

Intended uses

The data support cross-country growth accounting, comparative analyses of LAC productivity, academic research, teaching, and policy work on competitiveness and long-run growth. Access is open under the dataset's Creative Commons license; please review the license terms and cite the dataset when reusing it (see the citation below).

Show more

Metadata & use

Identifier https://doi.org/10.60966/xuei9biy
License Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivs 3.0 IGO
Citation

Fernández-Arias, Eduardo (2016). Productivity and Factor Accumulation in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Database 2014 Update. IDB Open Data. https://doi.org/10.60966/xuei9biy
Published date 2016-06-07
Modified date 2026-09-30
Tags/Keywords Productivity
Language
  1. English
Temporal coverage 1950-2014
Country
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Benin
Bolivia
Brazil
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
Fiji
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
Hong Kong SAR China
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kenya
Lesotho
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Mexico
Mozambique
Nepal
New Zealand
Niger
Norway
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Portugal
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Syria
Thailand
Netherlands
Togo
Tunisia
Türkiye
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zambia
Region Latin America and the Caribbean
Publisher
Inter-American Development Bank
Author
Fernández-Arias, Eduardo
Inter-American Development Bank
Data collection type Observational Data
Statistical type Panel Data
Data structure Structured Data
Data notes

What does this database measure?

It provides labor productivity (LP), capital-and-labor productivity (KLP) and Total Factor Productivity (TFP), together with the production inputs used to compute them, following the methodology of Daude and Fernández-Arias.

What is Total Factor Productivity (TFP)?

TFP captures the part of output that is not explained by the measured quantities of capital and labor — broadly, how efficiently an economy combines its production factors. It is a standard tool for analyzing the sources of long-run growth.

Which countries and regions are covered?

The database is focused on Latin America and the Caribbean but also includes comparator economies from other regions, so users can benchmark LAC productivity against the rest of the world.

Who produced this dataset?

It was authored by Eduardo Fernández-Arias and published by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as an open knowledge product, building on the productivity methodology of Daude and Fernández-Arias.

What file formats are available?

The dataset includes the productivity database in CSV and Stata .dta, a variable dictionary in CSV, and a PDF document describing the database and its construction.

Can I reproduce or extend the productivity estimates?

Yes. Because the inputs used to calculate LP, KLP and TFP are distributed alongside the headline measures, you can reproduce the estimates and explore alternative assumptions. Consult the variable dictionary and the descriptive PDF for definitions.

What are typical uses of this data?

Common uses include cross-country growth accounting, comparative analyses of LAC productivity, academic research and teaching, and policy work on competitiveness and long-run growth.

Under what license can I use the data?

The dataset is released under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivs 3.0 IGO license. Review the license terms at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ before reusing the data.

How do I cite this dataset?

Cite it as: Fernández-Arias, Eduardo (2016). Productivity and Factor Accumulation in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Database 2014 Update. IDB Open Data. https://doi.org/10.60966/xuei9biy

Dataset files

Load more

Additional materials

Load more