About the Productivity Measurement Initiative｜Events｜Productivity Measurement Oversight Panel｜Publications｜Questions
About THE PRODUCTIVITY MEASUREMENT Initiative
After nearly a decade of strong productivity growth starting in the mid-1990s, there has been much slower growth since then. Output per hour worked in the US business sector has grown at only 1.3 percent a year over the period 2004 to 2015; and growth has been even slower from 2010 to 2015, at just 0.5 percent a year. These rates are only half or less of the pace of growth achieved in the past. The United States is not alone in facing this problem, as all of the major advanced economies have also seen slow productivity growth. This growth weakness has been a major determinant of weak overall GDP growth, stagnation in real wages and household incomes and it strongly impacts government revenues and the deficit. There is a continuing debate about how much of this slowdown is real and how much it reflects the increasing inadequacy of our official measures. That debate has refocused attention on the shortcomings of the measures, the challenges – both conceptual and resource-related – that the statistical agencies confront and the need to keep pace with a rapidly evolving economy in which, for instance, a cell phone now doubles as a camera, a map, a radio, etc. More accurate measurement of productivity growth is important both to further better public understanding of what’s going on in the economy, and to guide policymakers as they shape policies to improve future living standards and evaluate the effects of past policies. The Hutchins Center’s Productivity Measurement Initiative responds to the need and appetite for (a) examination and clarification of the concepts, purpose and relevance to policy debates of the “output” that comprises the numerator in the productivity measure, e.g. GDP vs welfare and (b) particular attention to the difficult measurement issues in rapidly changing, harder-to-measure and growing sectors of the economy, e.g. health care and information services.
Events
- March 14, 2019: Can big data improve economic measurement?
PRODUCTIVITY MEASUREMENT Oversight panel
- Ufuk Akcigit, University of Chicago
- Martin Baily, Center on Regulation and Markets, Brookings
- David Byrne, Federal Reserve Board
- Carol Corrado, The Conference Board
- Karen Dynan, Harvard and Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Martin Fleming, IBM (former)
- Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs
- Benjamin Jones, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
- Charles Jones, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
- Mekala Krishnan, McKinsey Global Institute
- Marshall Reinsdorf, International Monetary Fund
- Robert Seamans, Stern School of Business, New York University
- Louise Sheiner, Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings*
- James Stock, Harvard Kennedy School*
- David Wessel, Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings
- Janet Yellen, Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings* (resigned on January 25, 2021 to be the Secretary of the US Department of Treasury)
*Denotes panel co-chair
Publications
A comparison of deflators for telecommunications services output (Read the full report here»)
Authors: Mohamed Abdirahman (UK Intellectual Property Office), Diane Coyle (University of Cambridge), Richard Heys (UK Office for National Statistics) and Will Stewart (Southampton University & Institute of Engineering and Technology Communications Panel)
How should we measure the digital economy? (Read the full report here »)
Authors: Erik Brynjolfsson and Avinash Collis (MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy)
Are medical care prices still declining? (Read the full report here»)
Authors: Seidu Dauda (World Bank Group), Abe Dunn (US Bureau of Economic Analysis) and Anne Hall (US Department of Treasury)
GDP as a measure of economic well-being (Read the full report here »)
Authors: Karen Dynan (Harvard University and Peterson Institute for International Economics) and Louise Sheiner (Brookings Hutchins Center)
The welfare effects of peer entry in the accommodation market: The case of Airbnb (Read the full report here »)
Authors: Chiara Farronato (Harvard Business School) and Andrey Fradkin (Boston University Questrom School of Business, )
Measuring the benefits of ridesharing services to urban travelers (Read the full report here »)
Authors: Hyeonjun Hwang (Washington State University), Cliff Winston (Brookings Economics Studies) and Jia Yan (Washington State University)
The measurement of output, prices, and productivity: What’s changed since the Boskin Commission? (Read the full report here »)
Author: Brent Moulton (formerly of US Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Productivity growth in treating a major chronic health condition (Read the full report here »)
Authors: John Romley, Dana Goldman, Neeraj Sood (University of Southern California) and Abe Dunn (US Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Measuring inflation: What’s changed over the past 20 years? What hasn’t? (Read blog here »)
Authors: Finn Schuele and David Wessel (Brookings Hutchins Center)
Productivity measurement in an age of multinational companies and new technologies (Read blog here »)
Authors: Finn Schuele and David Wessel (Brookings Hutchins Center)
Quality-adjusted price indices to improve productivity measures in highway construction (Read the full report here)
Authors: Omar Swei, David Gillen and Anuarbek Onayev (University of British Columbia)
Digital capital and superstar firms (Read the full report here)
Authors: Prasanna Tambe, Lorin M. Hitt, Daniel Rock and Erik Brynjolfsson
Questions
All inquiries on the Initiative should be directed to David Wessel ([email protected]) and Louise Sheiner ([email protected]).