Recent Developments in Productivity Analysis

Abstract

I provide a selective and idiosyncratic examination of several recent, and in some cases not-so-recent, developments in productivity analysis that I find interesting. Some have been influential, among them being an analysis of the linkage between management and productivity, an analysis of productivity dispersion (or productivity gaps) and productivity-enhancing resource reallocation, the incorporation of environmental impacts into productivity measurement, and an analysis of the impact of productivity on business financial performance. Others, for whatever reason, have had less impact, including an analysis of two quite different productivity indices bearing the same name, developing the linkage between empirical and theoretical productivity indices, and the derivation, interpretation and implementation of indirect productivity indices.