Abstract
The productivity slowdown across industrialised countries since around 2004 is a topic of much interest to academic researchers and policy makers. As we search for explanations for the slowdown, it is useful to consider what the performance has been at the industry level.
This talk, by Professor Kevin Fox, provides some evidence and perspectives from official data from different countries. For Australia, while industries have experienced different productivity growth profiles since 1989-90, they all experienced a slowdown after 2003-04. A rise in inefficiency may be one source of this slowdown, suggesting that a policy focus on new technologies may not be the most effective way of supporting increased productivity growth. Some suggestions for future research directions that may provide a deeper understanding of productivity growth are suggested, in the spirit of a slowdown being too valuable to waste.
About the presenter
Kevin Fox is a Professor of Economics and Director of Centre for Applied Economic Research at the UNSW Business School.
He works primarily in the field of economic measurement, with a focus on productivity and prices. His research on the use of scanner data in price indices has changed inflation measurement in multiple countries, including New Zealand. He has worked extensively with firm-level data and his current research interests include the valuation of free digital goods and the effectiveness of public R&D funding.
He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and advises multiple agencies, including the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Productivity Commission, and the United Nations.
Productivity in a Changing World seminar series
At Te Tai Ōhanga – The Treasury, we want to facilitate learning and debate on the important issues facing New Zealand. In 2023 and early 2024 the Treasury Guest Lectures are being organised under the theme: Productivity in a changing world.
This theme recognises that lifting our productivity performance continues to be central to improving New Zealanders’ wellbeing and that we are facing this challenge in the context of significant economic, social and environmental shifts. These shifts will require considerable changes in our economy if we are to sustain and improve our economic and productivity performance.