The Development of Productivity in the Norwegian Fisheries

The development of total factor productivity in the Norwegian fisheries 1961-2002 is estimated, using data on catches at constant fish prices, capital stock, labor input, and fish stocks. Data on fish stocks have been complied from reports by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and aggregated into a single stock index by using shares in catches at fixed prices as weights. Total factor productivity is shown to have increased rapidly in the mid-1960s, hardly having been surpassed ever since, while the development in total factor productivity has been uneven. The real capital stock was little higher at the beginning of this century than in the early 1960s, while labor input and fish stocks have declined. The increase in catches since the early 1960s is thus due to technological progress rather than an increase in inputs of any kind.