--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-2/is-it-driving-the-u-s-productivity-revival/" title: "Is IT Driving the U.S. Productivity Revival?" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-10T09:13:07+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:38:09+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2001" ipm_keyword: - "Federal Reserve" - "industry-level" - "information technology" - "IT capital" - "labour productivity" - "new economy" - "productivity revival" - "United States" ipm_research_theme: - "Productivity trends and comparisons" - "Technology and innovation" ipm_country_focus: - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Is IT Driving the U.S. Productivity Revival? Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-2/is-it-driving-the-u-s-productivity-revival/ # Is IT Driving the U.S. Productivity Revival? [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-2-4-Stiroh.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Stiroh, Kevin. 2001. “Is IT Driving the U.S. Productivity Revival?” International Productivity Monitor, No. 2 (Spring 2001): 31–36. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-2/is-it-driving-the-u-s-productivity-revival/ ## Author: - Kevin Stiroh Federal Reserve Bank of New York ## IPM Issue 2 Spring 2001 pp. 31–36 ## Related IPM articles [Labour Productivity as a Measure of Technological Change Ulrich Kohli Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 64–81](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/labour-productivity-as-a-measure-of-technological-change/) [IPM Issue 49 Editors’ Overview Andrew Sharpe, Bart van Ark, Paul Schreyer Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 1–2](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/) [De-industrialization and the Great Productivity Slowdown: What Comes Next? 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Moving beyond aggregate data, the analysis finds that the productivity acceleration is widespread—not concentrated in a few industries—and that it is closely linked to IT capital accumulation in IT-using industries. Both the production and intensive use of IT contributed to productivity gains. Industries that invested heavily in IT, such as wholesale trade and retail trade, showed the strongest productivity acceleration, supporting the conclusion that IT is a central driver of the U.S. productivity revival. Cet article examine les données probantes sectorielles sur le rôle des TI dans la reprise de productivité américaine de la fin des années 1990. Allant au-delà des données agrégées, l’analyse révèle que l’accélération de la productivité est généralisée — non concentrée dans quelques industries — et étroitement liée à l’accumulation de capital en TI dans les industries utilisatrices de TI. La production et l’utilisation intensive des TI ont toutes deux contribué aux gains de productivité. Les industries qui ont beaucoup investi en TI, comme le commerce de gros et le commerce de détail, ont affiché la plus forte accélération de productivité, ce qui corrobore la conclusion selon laquelle les TI sont un facteur central de la reprise de productivité américaine. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-2-4-Stiroh.pdf)