In the 1990s, labour productivity growth accelerated in the United States, yet slowed down in other industrialised countries, reversing a three decade long tendency of convergence. The book explores this phenomenon. It first identifies the methodological and statistical problems involved in measuring productivity and making cross-country comparisons in this area. Then the role of factor accumulation for the diverging trends across the OECD world, with a particular focus on the dispersion of information and communication technology (ICT), is reviewed. In-depth studies of single countries provide further insights regarding growth trends in the United States, Japan, Germany, and France.Finally, empirical investigations regarding the determinants of productivity growth at an international level complement the analyses. The results stress that public infrastructure and education, employment rates and working hours, and ICT spending play an important role in explaining the existing differences in levels and changes of productivity. This comprehensive book, on recent research regarding international gaps in productivity growth, will be of great interest to policy advisors and academics, political decision-makers and students of economics, business administration, international business and international policy.
Introduction: Measuring and Explaining Productivity Gaps Between Developed Countries by Gilbert Cette and Michel Fouquin and Hans-Werner Sinn.
1. Comparing Growth in GDP and Labour Productivity: Measurement Issues by Nadim Ahmad and Francois Lequiller and Pascal Marianna and Dirk Pilat and Paul Schreyer and Anita Wolfl.
2. The Breaks in Per Capita Productivity: Trends in a Number of Industrial Countries by Tristan-Pierre Maury and Bertrand Pluyaud.
3. ICT Diffusion and Potential Output Growth by Gilbert Cette and Jacques Mairesse and Yusuf Kocogluc.
4. Yeasty Investment and Mushroom Productivity Growth: An Industry Perspective on European and American Performance, 1987-2003 by Robert Inklaar and Marcel P. Timmer. 5. Growth Patterns in the OECD Area: Evidence from the Aggregate, Industry and Firm Level by Dirk Pilat.
6. Information Technology and the G7 Economies by Dale W. Jorgenson.
7. Productivity, Innovation and ICT in Old and New Europe by Bart van Ark and Marcin Piatkowski.
8. Information Technology and the Japanese Economy by Dale W. Jorgenson and Kazuyuki Motohashi.
9. Outsourcing and Productivity Growth: Sectoral Evidence from Germany by Theo Eicher and Thomas Fuchs and Hans-Gunther Vieweg.
10. Determinants of Productivity per Employee: An Empirical Estimation using Panel Data by Nicolas Belorgey and Remy Lecat and Tristan-Pierre Maury.
11. Labour Quality and Skill Biased Technological Change in France by Johanna Melka and Laurence Nayman.
Index.
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