Chumir-Brookings Project Workshop

The first workshop of the Chumir-Brookings Project (CBP) on The Technology-Productivity-Distribution Nexus took place at the Brookings Institution on August 1, 2016. It was co-chaired by Joel Bell, Chairman of the Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, and Kemal Dervis, Vice President and Director of the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings.

The workshop discussed an initial set of discussion notes that had been prepared for the event by Brookings Scholars and invited academic experts. The workshop was attended by authors of the discussion notes and a few other invited experts. The discussion reviewed trends and patterns in technological progress, productivity, and income distribution in major advanced and emerging economies. It focused on the paradox between the seemingly booming technology and declining productivity growth and the concurrent rise in income inequality. The evidence presented spanned macro, sector-level, and micro data. While this first CBP workshop focused on establishing the main trends in productivity growth and income distribution, the discussion also looked ahead to next stages of the project dealing with deeper analysis of the observed trends and patterns and policies to address them.

Discussion notes:

Productivity: Trends, Measurement, Macro/Sectoral/Micro Perspectives

“The Productivity Slump: A Summary of the Evidence.” Karim Foda, Brookings.

“The Productivity Slump – Fact or Fiction: The Measurement Debate.”  Kemal Derviş and Zia Qureshi, Brookings.

“The Productivity Outlook: Pessimists versus Optimists.”  Zia Qureshi, Brookings.

“The Drivers of Productivity Dynamics Over the Last 15 Years.”  Diego Comin, Dartmouth College.

“The Slowdown in Manufacturing Productivity Growth.”  Chad Syverson, The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.

“Using Firm-Level Data to Study Growth and Dispersion in Total Factor Productivity.”  Dany Bahar, Brookings.

“Productivity Measurement in the Education Sector.”  Eileen McGivney and Karim Foda, Brookings.

“Education’s Impact on Economic Growth and Productivity.”  Eileen McGivney and Rebecca Winthrop, Brookings.

Income Inequality: Trends and Issues

“Trends in Income Inequality: Global, Inter-Country, and Within Countries.”  Zia Qureshi, Brookings.

“Income Distribution Within Countries: Rising Inequality.” Kemal Derviş and Zia Qureshi, Brookings.

“Technology and Disparities: An Overview of Analytical Frameworks and a Suggested Policy Packages Approach.” Joanna Chataway and Anton Spisak, RAND Europe.

“Innovation and Inequality: A View from the South.” Susan Cozzens, Georgia Tech.

“Some Thoughts on How Subjective Well-Being Metrics Can Contribute to ‘The Great Policy Challenge’.” Carol Graham, Brookings.