Autorentext

Roy Green is Emeritus Professor and Special Innovation Advisor at the University of Technology Sydney, where he was previously Dean of the UTS Business School.

Phillip Toner is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Political Economy, University of Sydney.

Klappentext

A central concern of economists, policymakers and civil society in recent years has been the persistent and widespread slowdown in global productivity growth.

This stands in stark contrast to the robust productivity performance and associated prosperity witnessed across advanced economies in previous decades. The productivity slowdown represents a significant concern because it underpins the tensions emerging from income and wealth inequality, an expanded corporate profit share and geopolitical friction as established and emerging economic powers vie for global market supremacy. History offers numerous examples of technological advancement coinciding with heightened economic uncertainty and political discontent, yet these were predominantly periods of accelerated productivity growth. This volume delivers a guide to the contested terrain through a diversity of perspectives spanning mainstream economic analysis to institutional and political economy frameworks. It encompasses topics ranging from the definition and measurement of productivity to the function of research and innovation, financialisation and business dynamism, management quality and workplace relations and the existential implications and opportunities presented by climate change.

Understanding Productivity targets policymakers, students across multiple disciplines and readers eager to examine the productivity 'black box', to participate in an informed exploration of theory and evidence-based perspectives and to formulate their own conclusions about this critically important dimension of contemporary economic discourse and debate.

Inhalt

Part 1: History, Causes and Measurement 1. Productivity Growth in the History of Economic Analysis 2. Productivity Measurement: Main Concepts, Methods and Challenges 3. Multi-factor Productivity: A Critical Introduction 4. Productivity and the Demand Side of the Economy Part 2: Distribution and the Macro-economy 5. Productivity, Power, and Distribution 6. Women and the Productivity Agenda 7. Inflation and Productivity Part 3: Productivity at the Enterprise Level 8. Productivity and the Theory of the Firm 9. Home Truths about Workplace Relations and Productivity 10. Productivity and Management Practice: An Overview and Assessment
Part 4: Industry Perspectives 11. Emergent Technologies, Industrial Data and Future of Productivity 12. The Productivity Paradox in US Manufacturing 13. Redefining Productivity for Service and Network-based firms 14. Productivity Reform in the Construction and Infrastructure Industry Part 5: Productivity and Climate Change 15. Climate Change and Productivity Performance in G20 Countries 16. Productivity and Climate Change Part 6: Future Directions for Policy 17. Directing Growth: How a Mission-oriented Industrial