This study reveals the sources of the U.S. productivity miracle in the late 90's and the economy's future prospects. Much of the U.S. productivity acceleration was structural in nature, and should endure.
In general merchandise (representing 16 percent of the total retail productivity growth acceleration), we found that Wal-Mart directly and indirectly caused the bulk of the productivity acceleration through ongoing managerial innovation that increased competitive intensity and drove the diffusion of best practice (both managerial and technological).
Wholesale trade is the sector that contributed most to the acceleration of productivity growth in the U.S. after 1995. Focusing on pharmaceuticals wholesaling, we found that half of the acceleration was driven by warehouse automation and improvements in the organization. The other half was due to an increase in the value of intermediation roles and the increase in value of drugs.
Productivity growth in the semiconductor sector was caused by a surge in competitive intensity, technological improvements in complementary industries, and an increase in demand.
The computer manufacturing sector contributed a disproportionate amount to America's growth in productivity compared to other sectors. Increased demand and the improved capabilities of computers were important causes.
The telecommunications services sector illustrates how technological and regulatory change can stimulate productivity growth. Technological change has encouraged telecommunications firms to invest in newer, higher-performance equipment to build network capacity and add services.
The securities sector’s strong productivity performance was due to the combination of buoyant financial markets, exploitation of IT (information technology), and procompetition regulations.
From 1995 to 1999, retail banking presented a paradox. Despite a substantial acceleration in IT investments, labor productivity growth rates continued to decrease.
In an effort to enhance revenue through increased occupancy and customer loyalty, hotels invested heavily in property management, central reservation systems, and related applications (CRM and revenue management). Hotels, however, did not see improvements in productivity over 1995 levels.
The productivity team The team that worked on the Global Institute's Productivity report learned that it can be surprisingly fascinating to spend 12 months plumbing the depths of macro and micro economic analysis. Read more
Reaching higher productivity growth in France and Germany Innovation is the key to higher productivity growth. Read more
Perspective—How IT enables productivity growth IT was only one of a number of factors that led to significant productivity growth. Read more
Perspective—Whatever happened to the new economy? Recent reports of the New Economy's demise have been exaggerated. Read more
