Productivity

Sanders Has the Right Goal, Wrong Target in the Fight to Help Low-Wage Workers
If the goal is to improve the working conditions and benefits of lower-wage workers, then instead of targeting the big firms that actually treat their employees better than small firms, Chairman Sanders would be best advised to focus on pursuing his goal of a $15 minimum wage.
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For a menu of actionable ideas for policymakers related to productivity, see ITIF’s “Tech Policy To-Do List.”

Productivity
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March 17, 2021
Using Data to Fight Counterfeiting in E-commerce
Join ITIF's Center for Data Innovation for a video webinar to discuss the role of data and AI to counter the growing threat from global counterfeiting networks.
February 23, 2021
Sanders Has the Right Goal, Wrong Target in the Fight to Help Low-Wage Workers
If the goal is to improve the working conditions and benefits of lower-wage workers, then instead of targeting the big firms that actually treat their employees better than small firms, Chairman Sanders would be best advised to focus on pursuing his goal of a $15 minimum wage.
February 19, 2021
Why Raising the Minimum Wage Will Grow the Economy, Not Kill Jobs
The reality is that a higher minimum wage would boost productivity growth for the simple reason that when the price of labor is high, the return on investments in labor-saving technology is higher.
February 1, 2021
Fact of the Week: U.S. Firms That Invest in Cloud Services, Digitalization, and Other Business-Focused Technologies Have a Better Than One-In-Five Chance of Creating A New Innovation
The benefits of adopting technology can compound as firms combine the separate advantages of different technologies.
January 25, 2021
Robots and International Economic Development
The next production revolution will be a boon for a global economy that is sputtering and experiencing lagging growth and investment. This new technology wave should lead to a virtuous cycle of increased investment, higher productivity, more spending, and more investment.
January 19, 2021
Fact of the Week: In Japan, a 1 Percent Increase in Robot Adoption Due to Lower Prices Leads to a 0.28 Percent Increase in Employment
Automation’s effect on labor demand has long been seen by the public as negative. Japanese researchers challenged this perception when they examined robots’ impact on employment across a range of Japanese industries from 1978 to 2017.
January 4, 2021
Fact of the Week: A 1 Percent Increase in the Use of Robots Eventually Leads to a 0.1 Percent Increase in Wages and a 0.06 Percent Increase in Employment
The effects of robots on wages and employment can be said to have a “U shape”—lowering wages and employment initially, but with a diminishing impact over time, and then driving higher wages and more employment.
December 14, 2020
Fact of the Week: One Dollar of Automation Spending Increases Sales by 37 Cents and Raises Profits by 78 Cents While Driving Down Consumer Prices by 5 Cents
If automation proves to have a more positive impact on employment than once previously thought, then it could greatly alter the national conversation surrounding workforce development and technological innovation.
October 5, 2020
How MIT’s “Work of the Future” Project Gets It Wrong: Raising Taxes on Machinery and Software Would Kill Jobs and Hamper Wage Growth
The most important determinant of a nation’s economic wellbeing is the growth in per-capita GDP. The principle way that growth occurs is through productivity growth.
September 17, 2020
What’s the Best Way to Help Low-Income Workers? Automate Low-Income Jobs
Reducing unemployment and getting the COVID-impacted economy back to some semblance of normality is clearly the top economic task.

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