If official figures overstated the growth of banking output in the UK in the recent boom, does this mean that GDP growth was overstated too? The answer is no. It is truer to say that if banking output was overstated then the output of some other industry or industries must have been understated,...

This paper presents annual estimates of fixed capital stocks and capital services for the United Kingdom, 1950-2013, for the whole economy and for the market sector. Our estimates cover eight asset types (structures, machinery, vehicles, computers, purchased software, own-account software,...

The productivity performance of the UK economy in the period 1990-2007 was excellent. Based entirely on pre-crisis data, and using a two-sector growth model, I project the future growth rate of GDP per hour in the market sector to be 2.61% p.a. But the financial crisis and the Great Recession...

In this paper I argue that the financial crisis is likely to have a long term impact on the level of labour productivity in the UK while leaving the long run growth rate unaffected. Based entirely on pre-crisis data, and using a two-sector growth model, I project the future growth rate of GDP...

In this paper I argue that the financial crisis is likely to have a long term impact on the level of labour productivity in the UK while leaving the long run growth rate unaffected. Based entirely on pre-crisis data, and using a two-sector growth model, I project the future growth rate of GDP...

This article uses the ARD, the new longitudinal database of the Census of Production, to analyse productivity at the establishment level in the two cycles of I973-9 and 1979-89. Contrary to a commonly held view, closures did not play a major role in accounting for productivity growth in 1979-89....

What accounts for the productivity improvement experienced in manufacturing since 1979? Answers to this question are sought from a regression analysis of 93 manufacturing industries over the period 1971-86. The main findings are that when other influences, such as raw material prices and the...

Two institutions have retarded UK productivity growth in the post-war period: industrial relations and education. The failings of both were largely addressed in the 1980s. The productivity improvement of the 1980s was genuine and was largely due to the reduction in union power brought about by...

This paper argues that the greater part of economic growth can be accounted for by the accumulation of human and physical capital. The role of externalities is relatively small. This view is defended by reviewing the most sophisticated growth accounting studies and also by presenting some new...