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Green Budget 2013: The productivity puzzles

Published on 1 February 2013

In this pre-released Green Budget chapter, IFS researchers address 'Productivity Puzzles'.

In this pre-released Green Budget chapter, IFS researchers address 'Productivity Puzzles'. There are many factors affecting productivity. We find little evidence that the overall fall has been caused by labour hoarding, the demise of financial services or changes in workforce composition. Instead, we conclude that the key contributing factors are likely to be low real wages, low business investment and a misallocation of capital. This paper is a pre-released chapter from the February 2013 IFS Green Budget, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and to be launched on Wednesday 6th February 2013.

Authors

Richard Disney

Research Associate University of Sussex

Richard is an IFS Research Associate, a Part-time Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex and a Visiting Professor of Economics at UCL.

Helen Miller

Deputy Director

Helen is Deputy Director of the IFS and Head of the Tax sector.

Wenchao Jin

Wenchao (Michelle) Jin

Research Economist

Wenchao joined the IFS in 2010 as a Research Economist in the skills and education sector.