What Does Total Factor Productivity Measure?

Richard Lipsey () and Kenneth Carlaw ()

International Productivity Monitor, 2000, vol. 1, 31-40

Abstract: In this article, as part of the symposium on total factor productivity, Richard G. Lipsey of Simon Fraser University and Kenneth Carlaw of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand provide a trenchant critique of the concept of total factor productivity. They conclude that "the degree of confusion surrounding TFP, particularly the assumption that low TFP numbers imply a low degree of technological dynamism, would seem to us to justify dropping the measure completely from all discussions of long term economic growth".

Keywords: Total Factor Productivity; Technology; Growth; Measurement; Economic Concept; Innovation; GPT; Natural Resources; Neoclassical Growth Model; Technological Change; Definitions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 D24 E13 O31 O47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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