Does the United States Have a Productivity Slowdown or a Measurement Problem?

Growth in US productivity has been decelerating since 2004, after a surge starting in the mid-1990s. This seems illogical, considering the technological progress that appears to have boosted efficiency. Could official statistics be missing some aspects of new technologies that make people and businesses more productive but that don’t show up in the metrics? Economists David M. Byrne, John G. Fernald and Marshall B. Reinsdorf find that the mismeasurement of various facets of GDP input may not be the likely story behind the perceived slowdown. getAbstract recommends this technical but informative and topical report to economists, policy makers and executives.