Progress in Service Sector Productivity Measurement: Review Article on Productivity in the U.S. Services Sector: New Sources of Economic Growth

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Abstract

This review article examines the Brookings Institution volume Productivity in the U.S. Services Sector: New Sources of Economic Growth by Jack Triplett and Barry Bosworth, which reports on fifteen workshops on output and productivity measurement in difficult-to-measure service sectors. The key finding highlighted is that the post-1995 U.S. MFP growth resurgence was predominantly driven by service industries, not just IT-producing sectors. The reviewer notes that the volume effectively demonstrates that the earlier service sector productivity slowdown of the 1960s-1980s was largely a measurement artefact.

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