The Solow Productivity Paradox in Historical Perspective
24 Pages Posted: 29 Jan 2002
Date Written: January 2002
Abstract
A growth accounting methodology is used to compare the contributions to growth in terms of capital-deepening and total factor productivity growth of three general-purpose technologies, namely, steam in Britain during 1780-1860, electricity and information and communications technology in the United States during 1899-1929 and 1974-2000, respectively. The format permits explicit comparison of earlier episodes with the results for ICT obtained by Oliner and Sichel. The results suggest that the contribution of ICT was already relatively large before 1995 and it is suggested that the true productivity paradox is why economists expected more sooner from ICT.
Keywords: Growth accounting, general purpose technologies, productivity paradox
JEL Classification: O47
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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