Why Is Productivity Slowing Down?

Ian Goldin, Pantelis Koutroumpis, François Lafond and Julian Winkler

Journal of Economic Literature, 2024, vol. 62, issue 1, 196-268

Abstract: We examine the contribution of different explanations to the slowdown of labor productivity. Comparing the post-2005 period with the preceding decade for five advanced economies, we seek to explain a slowdown of 0.8 to 1.8 pp. No single explanation accounts for the slowdown, but we have identified a combination of factors that, taken together, account for much of what has been observed. In the countries we have studied, these are mismeasurement, a decline in the contribution of capital per worker, lower spillovers from the growth of intangible capital, the slowdown in trade, and a lower growth of allocative efficiency. Sectoral reallocation and a lower contribution of human capital may also have played a role in some countries. In addition to our quantitative assessment of explanations for the slowdown, we qualitatively assess other explanations, including whether productivity growth may be declining due to innovation slowing down.

JEL-codes: E23 E24 J24 L16 O33 O47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jel.20221543 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.3886/E172862V1 (text/html)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jel.20221543.appx (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jel.20221543.ds (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Why is productivity slowing down? (2022)
Working Paper: Why is productivity slowing down? (2021)
Working Paper: Why is productivity slowing down? (2020)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:jeclit:v:62:y:2024:i:1:p:196-268

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

DOI: 10.1257/jel.20221543

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Literature is currently edited by Steven Durlauf

More articles in Journal of Economic Literature from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert (mpa@aeapubs.org).