Tag Archives: productivity
What is a better measure of (Workers’) productivity than GDP (PPP) per hour worked?
My answer on Quora: The ideal measure is output or value-add per worker. I say ideal because true output or true value is hard to measure. GDP has been labelled one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, but it is not well suited for the 21st century. When output is a physical item, like […]
Competition Challenges in the Digital Economy
From Brookings (with Nirav Patel): Slow productivity growth and rising income inequality have shaped the world economy in a time of rapid technological change. A variety of explanations have emerged to help us understand these related trends, but one overarching theme is the decline in competition. The combination of increasingly concentrated markets, rising market power of large firms, and […]
How does improving basic infrastructure enhance economic growth?
My answer on Quora: Basic infrastructure enhances economic growth in three broad ways: (1) by supporting the production of goods and services, (2) by connecting people to each other and to those goods and services, and (3) by helping people secure basic needs like food, clean water, housing, health care and quality education (a healthy […]
Is population the number one contributor to a country’s long-term economic growth?
My answer on Quora: Population is important, but productivity is most important for long-term economic growth. Throughout most of history before the Industrial Revolution, an economy could only grow about as fast as its population. The Industrial Revolution and the new technologies brought into the production process allowed firms to produce much more than they were ever capable […]
Karim Foda 