Productivity trends from 1890 to 2012 in advanced countries

This Rue de la Banque provides an overview of productivity growth and levels for 13 advanced countries during the period 1890-2012. Two productivity waves are highlighted, a big one following the second industrial revolution and a small one following the ICT revolution. The productivity convergence process has been erratic, hampered by inappropriate institutions, technology shocks, financial crises and wars; the latter led to major productivity level adjustments, downwards for countries experiencing war on their soil, and partly upwards for other countries. Productivity trend breaks are also detected following major policy changes, such as structural reforms, for instance in the Netherlands during the 1980s and in Australia, Canada and Sweden during the 1990s. The downward trend break observed as early as the mid-2000s in the United States leads to question the future contribution of the ICT revolution to productivity enhancement.