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...

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...

This article reviews The Power of Productivity by William W. Lewis and Transforming the European Economy by Martin Neil Baily and Jacob Funk Kirkegaard. While Lewis postulates a single silver bullet for productivity growth, namely the freedom of consumers, Baily and Kirkegaard advocate a broader...

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...

This paper revisits the issue of Europe’s growth slowdown in the light of the developments of the first decade of the 21st century, including the devastating effects from the 2008/09 recession and the subsequent economic and financial crisis on Europe’s growth performance. From a supply side...

This paper examines cross-country and cross-industry differences in labor productivity performance and their association with ICT. It broadens earlier work with coverage of 52 industries in 16 OECD countries. The analysis suggests that ICT diffusion in Europe is following similar industry...

Purchasing power parities (PPPs) for R&D expenditure in 19 manufacturing industries are developed for France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom relative to the United States for the years 1997 and 1987. These PPPs are based on R&D input prices for specific cost categories...

This work was supported by The National Science Foundation project “Internationally Comparable Science, Technology, and Competitiveness Indicators” (SRS00-99594) and the International Economic program of The Conference Board. Inklaar, McGuckin and van Ark are with The Conference Board and...