John Van Reenen, London School of Economics and Political Science
What the chancellor didn’t mention is that UK GDP per person is 16% lower than we would have expected on pre-crisis trends and the major factor is lousy productivity growth.
Traffic congestion in the major cities is expected to cost Australians A$20.4 billion a year by 2020.
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Linking population growth with productivity and labour participation is problematic, just one of many questionable assumptions made in the Intergenerational Report.
Immigrant workers who overstay their visas are easily exploited by unscrupulous employers.
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You know Australia’s in trouble when the Reserve Bank cuts interest rates. Last week, the central bank did precisely that, in belated recognition of the income recession that has struck. Gross domestic…
The policies Australia needs are being blocked in the Senate.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Much of the current political turmoil in Australia can be traced to Bill Clinton’s famous aphorism: “it’s the economy stupid” – in particular, the plunge in world commodity prices over the past few years…
Two things stand out about the economic recovery in Britain. One is the sluggish growth in real wages. The other is the sluggish growth in productivity. That the two phenomena have coincided is no accident…
Things didn’t quite go to plan.
Chris Radburn/PA Wire
John Van Reenen, London School of Economics and Political Science
There are things to like in the Autumn Statement. The reforms to end the “cliffs” in stamp duty and make it a more graduated tax are welcome, but even better would have been to replace stamp duty entirely…
China needs to adopt a productivity reform agenda to avoid falling living standards.
AAP
China’s economy grew by 7.3% during the third quarter of 2014, meeting market expectations. Polling by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal put the consensus forecast at 7.2-7.3%, the slowest pace in more…
A set of simple management practices can help manufacturing companies outperform.
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With major employers heading offshore and employment numbers decimated, what will emerge from the ashes of Australia’s manufacturing industry? And what role should manufacturing play in the federal government’s…
Workplaces could do a lot more to help workers with a mental illness.
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Mental health disorders are the greatest contributor to the burden of disability and the third largest contributor to the burden of disease after all cancers and all cardio-vascular diseases. But unlike…
An all too familiar feeling?
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Rest “is for wimps” – or so many would have us believe. In a world where “time is money” and there “aren’t enough hours in the day”, hard-working people are sleeping less and working more. This in itself…
RBA Governor Glenn Stevens has cited an increase in labour productivity - but all isn’t as it appears.
AAP/Dan Peled
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens has ticked off on a major item on the “to do” list for Australian policy-makers: raise the rate of growth in labour productivity. In his keynote speech…
Australians should step away from a “story-telling approach” when it comes the economy.
AAP/Garry Schafer
What are the risks in the economic outlook for Australia? Typically, prognosticators take a scenario-based (aka “story-telling”) approach to answering this sort of question. And usually these scenarios…
The combination of social, mobile, cloud and data analytics is offering small firms new potential.
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Most companies that live and breathe the online revolution are not tech startups, but smart smaller firms that use online tools to run their core business better: to cut costs, reach customers and suppliers…
The new Royal Adelaide Hospital, due for completion in 2016, is being built using BIM.
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It is often argued that Australia’s construction sector productivity is lower than most other developed countries, such as the US. While there are many factors involved, Australia’s overall productivity…
It’s time we put the ‘p’ back into productivity.
Vincent Talleu/AAP
The latest report on Australia’s productivity performance wasn’t good news. The annual update by the Productivity Commission confirmed Australia continues to lag most other developed economies, and has…