Productivity

Promoting European Growth, Productivity, and Competitiveness by Taking Advantage of the Next Digital Technology Wave
The EU has an opportunity to make major strides in the next wave of digital transformation. But it will need to adopt a forward-looking policy perspective that focuses on the benefits of connectivity, automation, and smart systems for Europe’s economy and society.
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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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April 29, 2019
Spanish Manufacturing Firms Increased Their Overall Employment by 10 Percent After Adopting Robots
While it may be tempting to focus on the direct job losses caused by robot adoption, it is wrong to conclude that automation constitutes a generalized threat to workers, either in manufacturing or in the broader economy. By choosing to automate, firms can increase their productivity, which allows them to expand and increase their employment.
April 8, 2019
Increasing Applied Research Contracts With a Public Research Organization by 1 Percent Raised Firms' Sales by 18 Percent and Productivity by 12 Percent
The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (FhG), a German nonprofit organization that conducts applied research, started about 6,500 projects per year with private firms between 1997 and 2014, and new research shows the firms reap substantial benefits from the collaboration.
March 26, 2019
Promoting European Growth, Productivity, and Competitiveness by Taking Advantage of the Next Digital Technology Wave
The EU has an opportunity to make major strides in the next wave of digital transformation. But it will need to adopt a forward-looking policy perspective that focuses on the benefits of connectivity, automation, and smart systems for Europe’s economy and society.
March 22, 2019
The U.S. Postal Service in the E-Commerce Era: Preserving Affordable Package Delivery
ITIF and an expert panel discussed the consequences of various reforms to the U.S. Postal Service.
March 18, 2019
Immigrant-Owned High-Tech Firms Outperform Native-Owned Firms Across 15 of 16 Measures of Innovation
Proponents of increased high-skilled immigration routinely cite research that measures the size and growth of firms created by immigrant entrepreneurs. A new study goes farther, examining the performance of immigrant-owned high-tech firms across 16 metrics of innovation, from the production of publishable findings to patent applications.
March 4, 2019
Reduced ICT Investments Explain Part of Canada’s Productivity Slowdown
Between 1993 and 2003, Canada’s labor productivity grew at an average rate of 1.6 percent annually. The following decade, average labor productivity growth fell by more than a third to 1.0 percent, with comparable slowdowns occurring in most OECD countries, dampening economic growth globally. A new study examined the influence of ICT use and production on Canada’s labor productivity growth from 1993 to 2014, finding significant declines in ICT investment and ICT-driven growth.
January 7, 2019
The Task Ahead of Us: Transforming the Global Economy With Connectivity, Automation, and Intelligence
The next wave of digital innovation is coming. Countries can welcome it, prepare for it, and ride it to new heights of innovation and prosperity, or they can ignore the changing tide and miss the wave.
December 18, 2018
Industry Insights: The Productivity Outlook in Australia
A featured essay for Australian’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science discusses what nations can to do spur productivity growth and encourage the development of new technologies.
December 4, 2018
Automation, U.S. Manufacturing, and Jobs
In a presentation to the National Economist Club, Rob Atkinson discussed U.S. manufacturers' preparedness for automation and new technologies.
November 26, 2018
The Least Profitable Firms Among the World's Largest Companies Have Higher Labor Productivity and Lower Fixed Capital Productivity than the Most Profitable Firms
There are nearly 6,000 firms with revenues exceeding $1 billion, representing nearly two-thirds of global corporate earnings. The 10 percent of those firms with the largest profits produce 80 percent of the group’s total earnings. A new study has found that firms in the top 1 percent outperform the median firm across the board, with 20 times more revenue, 12 times more employees, 2.9 times more R&D intensity, 23 percent more labor productivity, and 14 percent more fixed capital productivity.

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