Productivity measurement is a fascinating area to look into (and you provide a good nudge to explore Blue Sky).
I think the value of the tech improvements since 2007 is pretty high. Information is much more available, mainly driven by smartphones and the Internet. Reliable, fast broadband and software rollout is a game changer. Business services - accounting, Companies House etc - are far faster and more efficient. We now have the ability to work remotely - or even on the go. And we can even control and monitor our own power systems through our phone (though my solar isn't much use in this storm).
Indeed, tech improvements since 2007 is how I can provide this comment and you can read it before even starting work proper. But does this interaction improve productivity? Does my 15 minutes reading and responding register on GDP in any way? We might improve each other's knowledge but the entire interaction is off-book so to speak as there's no meaningful way of turning these minutes and words into £.
Thanks Tom. These are good points, and illustrate how hard it is to measure the productivity of a lot of new bits of the economy.
I guess my feeling is I can live with some of the measurement difficulties if they feel like they balance out in the aggregate. But I’ve got no idea of whether the aggregate is about right. Do we feel like we’ve only got a tiny bit more productive, as the stats suggest? I don’t know, and that feels weird
Productivity measurement is a fascinating area to look into (and you provide a good nudge to explore Blue Sky).
I think the value of the tech improvements since 2007 is pretty high. Information is much more available, mainly driven by smartphones and the Internet. Reliable, fast broadband and software rollout is a game changer. Business services - accounting, Companies House etc - are far faster and more efficient. We now have the ability to work remotely - or even on the go. And we can even control and monitor our own power systems through our phone (though my solar isn't much use in this storm).
Indeed, tech improvements since 2007 is how I can provide this comment and you can read it before even starting work proper. But does this interaction improve productivity? Does my 15 minutes reading and responding register on GDP in any way? We might improve each other's knowledge but the entire interaction is off-book so to speak as there's no meaningful way of turning these minutes and words into £.
Thanks Tom. These are good points, and illustrate how hard it is to measure the productivity of a lot of new bits of the economy.
I guess my feeling is I can live with some of the measurement difficulties if they feel like they balance out in the aggregate. But I’ve got no idea of whether the aggregate is about right. Do we feel like we’ve only got a tiny bit more productive, as the stats suggest? I don’t know, and that feels weird