IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sls/ipmsls/v14y20071.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Early 21st Century U.S. Productivity Expansion is Still in Services

Author

Listed:
  • Barry P. Bosworth
  • Jack E. Triplett

Abstract

Labour productivity in the U.S. non-farm business sector grew two and a half per cent per year during the 1995-2005 period, nearly double its growth rate over the previous two decades. Services sector labour productivity (LP) and multifactor productivity (MFP) grew more rapidly and substantially exceeded productivity accelerations in the goods sector. We show that the services sector accounted for three-quarters of U.S. MFP growth after 1995, and within services the contribution of MFP to LP growth exceeded the vaunted contribution of IT investment. We also find that the services sector has become even more important as the primary source of sustained productivity growth after 2000. In this study, we compute LP, MFP and contributions to growth accounts for 57 industries within the goods and services sectors, using the new NAICS-based data set. We also show that resource reallocations, which are a newly important factor in productivity analysis, have changed the relation between increases in industry productivity growth rates and aggregate and sector growth rates in surprising ways.

Suggested Citation

  • Barry P. Bosworth & Jack E. Triplett, 2007. "The Early 21st Century U.S. Productivity Expansion is Still in Services," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 14, pages 3-19, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:sls:ipmsls:v:14:y:2007:1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/ipm/14/IPM-14-bosworth-e.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/ipm/14/IPM-14-bosworth-f.pdf
    File Function: version en français
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berndt, Ernst R & Wood, David O, 1975. "Technology, Prices, and the Derived Demand for Energy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 57(3), pages 259-268, August.
    2. Barry P. Bosworth & Jack E. Triplett, 2007. "Services Productivity in the United States: Griliches's Services Volume Revisited," NBER Chapters, in: Hard-to-Measure Goods and Services: Essays in Honor of Zvi Griliches, pages 413-447, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. D. W. Jorgenson & Z. Griliches, 1967. "The Explanation of Productivity Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 34(3), pages 249-283.
    4. Carol Corrado & Charles Hulten & Daniel Sichel, 2009. "Intangible Capital And U.S. Economic Growth," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 661-685, September.
    5. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Productivity, R&D, and the Data Constraint," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 347-374, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Zvi Griliches, 1992. "Introduction to "Output Measurement in the Service Sectors"," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 1-22, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2000. "Beyond Computation: Information Technology, Organizational Transformation and Business Performance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 23-48, Fall.
    8. Susanto Basu & Robert Inklaar & J. Christina Wang, 2011. "The Value Of Risk: Measuring The Service Output Of U.S. Commercial Banks," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(1), pages 226-245, January.
    9. Robert J. Gordon, 2000. "Does the "New Economy" Measure Up to the Great Inventions of the Past?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 49-74, Fall.
    10. Brian C. Moyer & Marshall B. Reinsdorf & Robert E. Yuskavage, 2006. "Aggregation Issues in Integrating and Accelerating the BEA," NBER Chapters, in: A New Architecture for the US National Accounts, pages 263-287, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2002. "Information Technology and the U.S. Productivity Revival: What Do the Industry Data Say?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1559-1576, December.
    12. Zvi Griliches, 1992. "Output Measurement in the Service Sectors," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gril92-1.
    13. Susanto Basu & John G. Fernald & Nicholas Oulton & Sylaja Srinivasan, 2004. "The Case of the Missing Productivity Growth, or Does Information Technology Explain Why Productivity Accelerated in the United States but Not in the United Kingdom?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2003, Volume 18, pages 9-82, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. James A. Kahn & Kevin Stiroh, 2002. "Productivity Growth: A New Era?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(2), pages 237-242, April.
    15. Dennis W. Jansen (ed.), 2006. "The New Economy and Beyond," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3965.
    16. Carol Corrado & John Haltiwanger & Daniel Sichel, 2005. "Measuring Capital in the New Economy," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number corr05-1.
    17. Thomas N. Hubbard, 2003. "Information, Decisions, and Productivity: On-Board Computers and Capacity Utilization in Trucking," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1328-1353, September.
    18. repec:bla:germec:v:8:y:2007:i::p:146-173 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mizobuchi, Hideyuki, 2011. "The returns to scale effect in labour productivity growth," MPRA Paper 31152, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Lavopa, Alejandro & Szirmai, Adam, 2012. "Industrialization, employment and poverty," MERIT Working Papers 2012-081, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    3. Chou, Yen-Chun & Hao-Chun Chuang, Howard & Shao, Benjamin B.M., 2014. "The impacts of information technology on total factor productivity: A look at externalities and innovations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 290-299.
    4. Sasaki, Hiroaki, 2012. "Endogenous phase switch in Baumol's service paradox model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 25-35.
    5. Li, Qing & Wu, Yanrui, 2020. "Intangible capital, ICT and sector growth in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    6. Andrés Maroto-Sanchez, 2010. "Productivity in European private and public services: A growth accounting approach," Working Papers 12/10, Instituto Universitario de Análisis Económico y Social.
    7. Sachiko Kazekami, 2017. "Do service sectors need core sectors to improve their productivity?," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 7(3), pages 389-410, December.
    8. Bert Balk, 2014. "Dissecting aggregate output and labour productivity change," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 35-43, August.
    9. Qing Li & Yanrui Wu, 2023. "ICT, technological diffusion and economic growth in Chinese cities," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 1737-1768, April.
    10. Danny Leung & Yi Zheng, 2012. "What affects MFP in the long-run? Evidence from Canadian industries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(6), pages 727-738, February.
    11. Dumagan, Jesus C., 2013. "Relative Price Effects on Decompositions of Change in Aggregate Labor Productivity," Discussion Papers DP 2013-44, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    12. Rabeh Morrar & Faïz Gallouj, 2016. "The growth of the service sector in Palestine: the productivity challenge," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 179-204.
    13. Weijun He & Yizhan Li & Xu Meng & Mengfei Song & Thomas Stephen Ramsey & Min An, 2024. "Will green technological progress help industrial collaborative agglomeration increase regional carbon productivity: evidence from Yangtze River Delta urban agglomerations," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 26019-26046, October.
    14. Oliner, Stephen D. & Sichel, Daniel E. & Stiroh, Kevin J., 2008. "Explaining a productive decade," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 633-673.
    15. Dukhabandhu Sahoo, 2012. "Efficiency of the Information and Technology Sector of India and Its Relevance to Indian Economic Growth," Journal of Infrastructure Development, India Development Foundation, vol. 4(1), pages 41-58, June.
    16. Talan B. Işcan, 2009. "Engel and Baumol: How much can they explain the rise of service employment in the United States?," Working Papers daleconwp2009-03, Dalhousie University, Department of Economics.
    17. Iscan Talan, 2010. "How Much Can Engel's Law and Baumol's Disease Explain the Rise of Service Employment in the United States?," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-43, September.
    18. Maroto-Sánchez, Andrés & Cuadrado-Roura, Juan R., 2009. "Is growth of services an obstacle to productivity growth? A comparative analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 254-265, December.
    19. Cuadrado-Roura, Juan R., 2016. "Service industries and regional analysis. New directions and challenges," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 36, pages 107-127.
    20. Hideyuki Mizobuchi, 2014. "Returns to scale effect in labour productivity growth," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 293-304, December.
    21. Alistair Dieppe, 2021. "Global Productivity," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 34015.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hulten, Charles R., 2010. "Growth Accounting," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 987-1031, Elsevier.
    2. Ian Goldin & Pantelis Koutroumpis & François Lafond & Julian Winkler, 2024. "Why Is Productivity Slowing Down?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 196-268, March.
    3. Henry van der Wiel, 2001. "Does ICT boost Dutch productivity growth?," CPB Document 16.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    4. Carol A. Corrado & Charles R. Hulten, 2014. "Innovation Accounting," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Economic Sustainability and Progress, pages 595-628, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Szalavetz, Andrea, 2011. "Innovációvezérelt növekedés? [Innovation-driven growth?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 460-476.
    6. Mauro Giorgio Marrano & Jonathan Haskel & Gavin Wallis, 2009. "What Happened To The Knowledge Economy? Ict, Intangible Investment, And Britain'S Productivity Record Revisited," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 686-716, September.
    7. Edquist, Harald & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Swedish lessons: How important are ICT and R&D to economic growth?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Dale W. Jorgenson & Marcel P. Timmer, 2011. "Structural Change in Advanced Nations: A New Set of Stylised Facts," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 113(1), pages 1-29, March.
    9. Li, Qing & Wu, Yanrui, 2020. "Intangible capital, ICT and sector growth in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    10. Ohnemus, Jörg, 2007. "Does IT Outsourcing Increase Firm Success? An Empirical Assessment using Firm-Level Data," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-087, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Dale W. Jorgenson & Mun S. Ho & Kevin J. Stiroh, 2008. "A Retrospective Look at the U.S. Productivity Growth Resurgence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 3-24, Winter.
    12. Mariela Dal Borgo & Peter Goodridge & Jonathan Haskel & Annarosa Pesole, 2013. "Productivity and Growth in UK Industries: An Intangible Investment Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(6), pages 806-834, December.
    13. Mark Lijesen, 2002. "End user prices in liberalised energy markets," CPB Discussion Paper 16.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    14. Edquist, Harald & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Do R&D and ICT affect total factor productivity growth differently?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 106-119.
    15. Ky‐hyang Yuhn & Seung R. Park, 2010. "Information Technology, Organizational Transformation and Productivity Growth: An Examination of the Brynjolfsson–Hitt Proposition," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 87-108, March.
    16. Nicholas Bloom & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2012. "Americans Do IT Better: US Multinationals and the Productivity Miracle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 167-201, February.
    17. Roth, Felix & Sen, Ali & Rammer, Christian, 2021. "Intangible Capital and Firm-Level Productivity – Evidence from Germany," Hamburg Discussion Papers in International Economics 9, University of Hamburg, Department of Economics.
    18. Oulton, Nicholas, 2012. "Long term implications of the ICT revolution: Applying the lessons of growth theory and growth accounting," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 1722-1736.
    19. Mauro Giorgio Marrano & Jonathan Haskel & Gavin Wallis, 2009. "What Happened To The Knowledge Economy? Ict, Intangible Investment, And Britain'S Productivity Record Revisited," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 686-716, September.
    20. Chen, Wen & Niebel, Thomas & Saam, Marianne, 2016. "Are intangibles more productive in ICT-intensive industries? Evidence from EU countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 471-484.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour productivity; Multifactor productivity; Service sector; Resource reallocations.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • F00 - International Economics - - General - - - General
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O25 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Industrial Policy
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • O51 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - U.S.; Canada

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sls:ipmsls:v:14:y:2007:1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CSLS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cslssca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.