In a new paper published today, 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.
Authors
Richard Disney
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
Helen is Deputy Director of the IFS and Head of the Tax sector.
Wenchao (Michelle) Jin
Wenchao joined the IFS in 2010 as a Research Economist in the skills and education sector.
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