Measuring Productivity: The Response of National Statistical Institutes to the OECD’s Productivity and Capital Manuals

In 2001, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued its Productivity Manual, alongside its Capital Manual (the latter was updated in 2009). These Manuals set out a detailed guide for National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) on how to expand their national accounts to incorporate a production account using the KLEMS methodology. In many cases full acceptance of these proposals might well require changes to national accounts methodology, for instance the adoption of double deflation, and also a considerable statistical effort, such as incorporating data on wages and employment into the national accounts in a consistent way. This article summarizes the response of some leading NSIs to this challenge and assesses how far they have succeeded in meeting it.