Research
BPEA | 1988 No. 2The Productivity Slowdown, Measurement Issues, and the Explosion of Computer Power
Martin Neil Baily and
Robert J. Gordon
Robert J. Gordon
Stanley G. Harris Professor of the Social Sciences
- Northwestern University
Discussants:
David H. Romer and
David H. Romer
Nonresident Senior Fellow
- Economic Studies
William D. Nordhaus
1988, No. 2
ALMOST TWO DECADES have now passed since U.S. productivity growth first showed signs of slowing, more than 15 years since the first paper on that topic appeared in this journal. Overall, the slowdown continues with little relief; in the nonfarm business sector the annual growth rate for both output per hour and multifactor productivity was more than 1.5 percentage points slower during 1973-87 than during 1948-73.2 If the productivity slowdown continues, it must inevitably reduce the ability of the United States to increase its per capita income and wealth, just as it has already resulted in a near-total cessation in the growth of economywide real hourly compensation since 1973.3 In this sense the productivity growth slowdown might be described as America’s greatest economic problem.