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Theo S. Eicher and Thomas Strobel present an industry-level account of the recent changes in German productivity growth and compare the trends to Europe and the US. The specific focus is on how differential investments in information and communication technologies (ICT) affected the economic performance of these economies.- Not all industrialized countries shared the economic fortunes that ICT presented to the US economy. While the US experienced successive accelerations in its trend growth in 1995 and again in 2000, Germany experienced dual reductions in labor productivity growth. Some European economies fared better and others even worse than Germany. Since productivity is the ultimate determinant of living standards, the authors examine the sources of these productivity differentials. They also present a new German growth accounting database that utilizes unique ICT investment data, sourced directly from the industries, to place their findings into an international context. - This book is targeted at economists and policymakers alike, and is designed to provide clear guidance for those interested in industrial policy and statistical account methods.

The article considers the main trends and factors of US economic growth. Economic and technological reasons for slowdown of US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP per capita and productivity are discussed. The author focuses on the estimates of key macroeconomic indicators published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies for analyzing historical growth and identifying factors contributions. Also, the article discusses points of view on the potential factors for continued economic growth in the future, including the statistics and calculations of the American economists. It is shown that the United States is nowadays facing fundamental problems of productivity, not just a cyclical downturn. A number of disturbing tendencies in the US economy, such as negative trends in both labor productivity and multifactor productivity (MFP) emerged well before the economic and financial crises of 2008 (Great Recession). As the author note, the US has entered into a period of relatively low GDP growth rate in comparison with 1990 – early 2000s. A reduction also occurred in the growth rate of GDP per capita, labor productivity and other indicators. Special attention is addressed to the roles of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Since mid-1990 the large-scale investments into the ICT provided a great portion of US economic growth and productivity. However, in the last 10 years the contribution of ICT to productivity growth noticeably reduced from its maximum value in 1995–2004. Nonetheless, it remains sizable and still contributes about one-fifth of the GDP growth and more than 40% of the growth in labor productivity. The author's general conclusion is that, despite the existing problems in economic growth, United States remains the world's most productive economy and the largest market for ICT goods and services. This is likely to continue encouraging the nation's economic growth and productivity, although at a slower pace.

AbstractAustralian productivity growth has slowed since the mid‐2000s, particularly compared with the period of strong growth in the late 1990s. This has partly been a global phenomenon. In commodity‐exporting economies, rapid capital stock growth has coincided with declining growth of multifactor productivity. While productivity growth in Australia has been particularly weak in the mining and utilities industries, productivity growth has slowed in other industries. A number of potential explanations for the slowdown is considered. The article concludes with a discussion of trends in the terms of trade and the exchange rate and the implications of these for productivity growth.

AbstractThe vast literature on extrapolative stochastic mortality models focuses mainly on the extrapolation of past mortality trends and summarizes the trends by one or more latent factors. However, the interpretation of these trends is typically not very clear. On the other hand, explanation methods are trying to link mortality dynamics with observable factors. This serves as an intermediate step between the two methods. We perform a comprehensive analysis on the relationship between the latent trend in mortality dynamics and the trend in economic growth represented by gross domestic product (GDP). Subsequently, the Lee-Carter framework is extended through the introduction of GDP as an additional factor next to the latent factor, which provides a better fit and better interpretable forecasts.

Denison studies changes in the trend of output and its determinants. Using the growth-accounting methodology that he himself pioneered and refined in earlier studies, he systematically distinguishes changes in the economy's ability to produce--as measured by his series on potential national income--from changes in the ratio of actual output to potential output. He focuses on the decline in the growth of potential national income that started in 1974 and was further accentuated beginning in 1980. He also highlights the pronounced decline, from business cycle to business cycle, in the average ratio of actual to potential output since 1969. Denison organizes his discussion around eight tables that divide the 1929-82 period into three long and seven short periods. The most recent "long period" --1973-1982-- was, says Denison, a period of slow growth which is as yet unfinished. ISBN 0-8157-1809-8 (pbk.) : $10.95