Efficiency Performance of Latin American Vis‐à‐Vis North American Countries Between 1980 and 2019

Abstract

This article compares the behavior of total factor productivity between North America and 16 Latin American countries over the period 1980–2019, using an order-m nonparametric estimator along with the Malmquist index. The results highlight a decline in productivity across Latin America over the 40-year period, leading to a widening gap between Latin American economies and the benchmark. However, a significant improvement in technical change is observed in Latin American countries during the period from 2010 to 2019.