Digitalisation and Beyond: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Productivity Growth in G20 Countries

Gaetano D’Adamo, Maria Bianchi and Lucia Granelli
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Gaetano D'Adamo ()

No 67, European Economy - Economic Briefs from Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission

Abstract: The Italian G20 presidency has included reviving productivity growth as one of its priorities. Against this background, this Economic Brief discusses productivity growth in G20 economies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, paying attention to digitalisation, the emergence of digital platforms and intangible investment, and highlights related policy priorities. The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting productivity growth in many ways (e.g. through human capital, investment, resource reallocation, frictions to global value chains, etc.) and is likely to leave scars. Fostering digitalisation and intangible investment can help the recovery thanks to their overall positive impact on productivity. Key policies to unlock productivity growth discussed in the paper include: (i) high-quality investments in innovation, human capital and infrastructure, (ii) well-functioning labour and product markets to facilitate resource reallocation also across sectors, to absorb the shock of the crisis, (iii) facilitating access to finance and liquidity, and (iv) a supportive business environment. There is strong value added in international cooperation for productivity-enhancing policies: international cooperation can allow the sharing of information on lessons learnt and best practices. Moreover, common efforts and joint initiatives (for example, in investment) can maximise the impact of the measures and the positive spillovers. International coordination in the G20 can also contribute to fill existing data gaps to enable more evidence-based policy decisions.

Keywords: productivity; digitalisation; COVID-19; investment; structural reforms; Gaetano D’Adamo; Maria Bianchi; Lucia Granelli. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 E22 F42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2021-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff and nep-mac
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/publications/ ... wth-g20-countries_en (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:euf:ecobri:067

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in European Economy - Economic Briefs from Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ECFIN INFO ().