productivity miracle or workhouse?

[Brad De Long]

>Brad De Long wrote:
>
>>We continue to hope.
>>
>>If the shift to a higher-investment economy induced by the 
>>deficit-reduction programs of 1990 and 1993 don't produce first a 
>>productivity boom and then a long-run real wage boom, then us 
>>Democratic neoliberals and Clintonistas will have put in place an 
>>economic policy that will have done good only for Republicans...
>>
>>How much longer do we have before we have to admit defeat?
>
>Dunno. How long? Next downcycle?
>
>So do you buy the blip in the productivity stats? Or is Roach right 
>that hours worked are underestimated, and/or is Gordon right that 
>it's all an artifact of computer prices?
>
>Doug

I don't know. I do know that Gordon's claim is that high total factor 
productivity growth is concentrated in computer manufacture, not that 
high labor productivity growth is concentrated in computer 
manufacture.

Labor productivity growth is pretty broad. But a lot of the 
industries experiencing relatively high labor productivity growth are 
buying lots of computers (which are cheap because of high 
productivity growth in computer manufacture).

And the pace of TFP growth in computer manufacturing is awesome.

Brad DeLong