productivity
Reports on productivity See all →
A Swiss answer to the Covid-19 crisis: Focus on liquidity
Switzerland devised an ingenious way to throw a lifeline to its enterprises during the pandemic-induced crisis. Its “liquidity facility” targets the core segment of the economy, relies on business owners’ sense of responsibility and does not burden the country’s public finances with intolerable debt.
Surprising surge: Productivity during the Covid-19 crisis
Among the developed nations in Europe and North America, productivity growth had been on a steady decline over recent years. The Covid-19 crisis brought a sharp change in that trend, with some countries seeing an increase in productivity by more than 20 percent. It was a surprising result, especially with ...
The specter of secular stagnation
Despite considerable technological innovation in recent years, many Western democracies have been plagued by sluggish growth and productivity. There is no widespread consensus among economists on what causes the trend, with some advocating for more government spending and redistribution while others favor less government intervention and fiscal imbalance and a ...
Learning the lessons of wasteful education spending
The OECD’s recent education scores underline once again how poorly schools are educating today’s youth – even despite significant spending increases. The results will probably spur further calls for more education funding so that students can stay in school even longer. Doing so, however, may not necessarily give students better ...
Focus Germany: Foreign trade – clouds on the horizon
German trade statistics are sagging. Most commentators attribute this phenomenon to the global business cycle. More likely, today’s figures are the outcome of earlier decisions made by German companies to move resources outside of Europe, and they are now developing their products elsewhere. If true, German foreign trade flows will ...
