Routledge Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition
The amount of real output produced by one unit of a factor input. Labour and capital productivities have been extensively studied to understand the process of economic growth and the international trade performance of individual countries. US studies show that productivity is higher in more CAPITAL-INTENSIVE industries, which are also unionized and where the cost of turnover and supervision is lower and there is more industrial harmony Labour productivity is measured as output per person, assuming that the quantities of other factors employed are constant (a difficult assumption in the case of capital). In general, labour productivity can be regarded as a function of investment and the business cycle, as well as the degree of supervision of the workforce and of salary differentials and incentives.
References
Barrell, R., Mason, G.
and O’Mahony, M. (eds) (2000) Productivity, innovation and economic performance, Cambridge, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Davies, S.W. and Caves, R.E. (1987) Britain’s Productivity Gap—A Study Based on British and American Industries, 1968–77, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Denison, E.E. (1967) Why Growth Rates Differ, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
Kravis, I.B. (1976) ‘A survey of international comparisons of productivity’, Economic Journal 86 (March):1–44.
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