The following are notes jotted down whilst reading a lecture (40 x A4 pages long) given by Adair Turner, Chair of INET (Institute for New Economic Thinking) in Washington DC in 2018 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Summary: The lecture covers the possible long term impact of rapid technological progress – i.e. work automation and AI – on the nature of …
Tag: puzzle
Jul 27
Cheap labour solves productivity puzzle?
Merryn Somerset Webb, editor of the magazine Moneyweek, claims to have solved the productivity puzzle afflicting the UK – actually, all other developed economies are suffering in much the same way “It’s never ever seemed like much of a puzzle to us” she says, adding: “We’ve written many times over the last decade that, if you …
Jul 19
UK – a hub with no spokes
Andy Haldane, chief economist at the BoE (Bank of England) and so one of the finest of finest economic thinkers, recently gave a speech about the UK’s productivity problem to the Academy of Social Sciences – clearly, we should treat his every word with great respect, or should we? The following is a precis of …
Jul 07
Sheffield’s answer to the puzzle
In 2015, the University of Sheffield showed Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, two photographs: One of the Orgreave coking plant that closed in 1990 – ‘a brown and broken edifice dissolving like a rust stain into a post-industrial landscape’ The other, taken a decade later, of a solitary gleaming building on the …
Nov 22
Sector mix explains ‘productivity puzzle’?
Once upon a time, we humans kept on inventing/ innovating/ improving tangible stuff: First to meet our basic needs for must-haves such as food, shelter and/ or defence Then, to make our lives easier with like-to-haves And, nowadays, with many of those needs sated, we chase after love-to-haves which make our lives more enjoyable It …
Sep 04
Why chase productivity improvement?
1. Productivity improvement (PI) at national level has the following aims: To improve the standard of living (SoL) of all in the land, mostly by producing more and better material goods and services at more affordable prices whilst using fewer limited and so costly resources To increase the number, quality and rewards of jobs for …
Jun 27
Baumol’s disease
Professor William Baumol of Princeton University recently died aged 95 ‘Baumol’s disease’ is thought by some to explain the current productivity puzzle afflicting most developed nation’s economies, especially their labour-intensive service industries e.g. healthcare, education, performing arts Quoting from an article by George Will in The Washington Post, Senator Daniel Moynihan explained this disease: “The number …
Apr 15
Passports to productivity Improvement?
Some say the ‘Productivity Puzzle’ is the result of a storm of problems affecting both supply and demand in G7 developed nations viz: Supply: In the past, major technological advances (aka Schumpeter discontinuities) enabled quantum leaps in productivity levels – G7 nations would all adopt them and improve at about the same rate – now, without more …
MIRACLE solution to productivity puzzle
The US is worried about the puzzle of their flat output/ GDP and productivity growth following the 2008 financial crisis, yet employment has risen Likewise the UK and other G7 nations They had all expected growth to ‘revert to trend’ by now and be at least 2% per annum, not approach zero as seems to …
Low Australia productivity affects all, not just a few
New Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, says boosting productivity is essential if Australia is to maintain the living standards it has enjoyed in recent years He warns: “Australia’s remarkable boom times are over and the best way to maintain our standard of living is to have a laser-like focus on productivity”. In his first appearance before …