Since the 2008 financial crisis, the UK's productivity has fallen
dramatically and now lags behind that of other European countries, most
notably Germany. For this reason, the word "productivity" looms large in
public policy discussions and has become the focus of complex debate.
However, many find themselves hard-pressed to explain exactly what the
term means. Mike Haynes provides a detailed examination of the concept,
how it is used, and why it is held by economists to be so important in
evaluating the health of modern economies.
Haynes maintains that too little attention is paid to why productivity
grows or fails to grow in certain contexts as well as the difficulties
involved in measuring its scope. Using a range of case studies to
illustrate his points, Haynes examines how real world variables such as
social welfare, automation and the reorganization of global and local
economies interact with measurements of efficiency and output. Further,
the book explores the competition in productivity between economically
advanced countries in North America and Europe as well as uneven growth
in less powerful economies. The book concludes by discussing whether
growth in productivity is sustainable or whether productivity is, in
fact, no longer the motor of economic growth that it once was and no
longer the most appropriate economic indicator for modern economies.
