Rakesh Bhandari wrote:
> Just would like to note that in The Rise of the Network Society, Manuel
> Castells subjects Robt Gordon like arguments about slow productivity growth
> to criticism.
> He notes
>
> Castells argues that the slowdown of productivity has been concentrated in
> the so called service sector. Then he notes
>
> *the difficulty of measuring productivity in so called services. According
> tohe BLS productivity in banking has only improved by 2% a year. This seems
> to be a fantastic underestimate. Well since growth in real output is
> *defined* as the increase of hours worked in the industry, productivity
> growth is eliminated by assumption.
> *while productivity has not grown in services esp. for those countries in
> which retail employment has a great weight, e.g. US and Japan, some service
> industries as conventionally defined have displayed great increases in
> productivity, e.g., telecommunications, air transportation, , and
> railroads. Indeed where retail employment is relatively insiginficant, as
> in France and Germany, there has been substantial productivity growth.
> *mfg productivity growth rates have often reached so called Golden Age
> levels, esp. Japan, the US and to a lesser extent UK, suggesting that they
> have indeed assimilated new technologies (CAD, CAM) at a faster rate than
> France and Germany.
>
> Yours, Rakesh
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu