International productivity comparisons have traditionally focused on productivity growth rates. International productivity level comparisons are much more complex, requiring comparable industry data and estimates of purchasing power at a detailed industry level. The International Comparisons of...

Productivity and income growth rates and differentials vary widely among OECD countries. In this chapter, Bart van Ark develops a framework for the understanding of these productivity and income differences. The framework breaks GDP per capita into two basic drivers: labour supply and labour...

It is widely argued that declining fertility slows the pace of economic growth in industrialized countries through its negative effect on labor supply. There are, however, theoretical arguments suggesting that the effect of falling fertility on effective labor supply can be offset by associated...

Unified growth theory predicts that the timing of the fertility transition is a key determinant of contemporary comparative development, as it marks the onset of the take-off to sustained growth. Neoclassical growth theory presupposes a take-off, and explains comparative development by...

Both ICT-producing and ICT-using industries have contributed disproportionately to labour productivity growth in the 1990s. In this article, Bart van Ark, Robert Inklaar from the University of Groningen and Robert H. McGuckin of the U.S. Conference Board compare Canada, the United States and...

Why did European productivity growth slow down while American growth accelerated since the 1990s? In this article we provide a detailed analysis of the sources of growth from a comparative industry perspective, based on our recent book Economic Growth in Europe. We argue that Europe’s falling...

In March 2007, the EU KLEMS Growth and Productivity Accounts were publicly released. These accounts include measures of output growth, employment and skill creation, capital formation and multifactor productivity (MFP) at the industry level for European Union member states from 1970 onwards....

The recession left its mark on global productivity, which fell in 2009. The productivity growth differential between the United States and Europe increased dramatically in 2009. Average long-term growth of labour productivity in advanced economies has stalled since 2000. The gradual improvement...

This article identifies three priorities for future productivity research: intangible assets, a better understanding of the impact of innovation on productivity, and a bridging of the gap between firm-level measures of productivity and industry-level and aggregate measures. It also makes the...

With market services accounting for an increasing share of GDP as well as for differences in productivity growth performance across countries, the need for accurate measures of services output is becoming ever more important. In this article we first provide an international comparative...