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Can Technology Hurt Productivity?

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March 22, 2018 —  Declining growth rates in productivity and GDP have been observed in recent years.  A variety of explanations have been offered.

The most prominent explanations involve technology.   On the one hand, Robert Gordon (2016) has argued persuasively that we should not expect Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and other technological innovations of recent years to have as big an economic payoff as electricity, the automobile, and other technological revolutions of the past.   On the other hand, Martin Feldstein (2017) has argued persuasively that productivity growth is higher than we realize, because government statistics “grossly understate the value of improvements in the quality of existing goods and services” and “don’t even try to measure the full contribution,” of new goods and services, and that these measurement errors are probably becoming more important over time. read more

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Did the Markets Overlook Fed Bullishness in the March 16 FOMC Statement?

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(March 18, 2016)  Financial markets reacted to the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 16, as if what the Fed had revealed was highly dovish, that is, diminishing expectations regarding future interest rates. 

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8 Policy Recommendations for Newly Elected Members of Congress

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On December 3, 2014, I participated in a panel of Harvard University’s Bipartisan  Program  for  Newly Elected Members of Congress.   After establishing that the median US household has not shared in recent strong economic gains, I went on to consider policy remedies.

I offered the Congressmen eight policy recommendations.  Some will sound popular, some very unpopular; some associated with “liberals”, some with “conservatives.”   I would claim that they all have in common heavy support from economists, regardless of party – even the very unpopular ones. read more

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