Published June 1979 | Version Submitted
Working Paper Open

The Slowdown in Productivity Advances: A Dynamic Explanation

Abstract

How is the slowdown in the U.S. rate of productivity advance (see Figures I and II) to be explained? Quite obviously, before it can be explained the principal determinants of the rate of productivity advance need to be known. Many people believe that productivity advances are quite automatic, and were it not for such external factors as regulation and inflation or the declining growth rate there would be no slowdown. But without knowing what determines the rate of productivity increase how can we be sure?

Additional Information

Acknowledgments: The present draft of this paper benefited from criticisms of previous drafts by Ronald Braeutigam, Bruce Cain, Chris Hill, Roger Noll, Edward Posner, Louis Wilde, and James Quirk. David Feinstein and Natalie Gluck, two undergraduate students at Caltech, did the computer work associated with explaining the dynamics of inflation. This paper has been published in Technological Innovation for a Dynamic Economy, edited by Christopher T. Hill and James M. Utterback, pp. 66-117. New York: Pergamon Press, Inc., 1979. The project was sponsored by the Center for Policy Alternatives at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Attached Files

Submitted - sswp247.pdf

Files

sswp247.pdf

Files (985.0 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:7e2540901fe3ffdb2857e13f86c70176
985.0 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
82462
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20171018-141622285

Funding

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Dates

Created
2017-10-19
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2019-10-03
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Social Science Working Papers
Series Name
Social Science Working Paper
Series Volume or Issue Number
247