The U.S. Productivity Slowdown and Its Relation to the Inflation Problem

[Introduction] Numerous explanations for the productivity slowdown of the United States have been expounded by economists, business leaders, and politicians since it became painfully apparent in the early 1970s. With the imposition of a form of environmental regulation upon American industry in general not unlike that imposed by the Defense Department upon its contractors, the most connnonly given cause is government regulation. How else to explain the productivity slowdown?