What to do about productivity: a short and sweet must-read. I love this list for both its content and its brevity. And it's likely to cause offence in a bipartisan way, above all in the education realm. As a father of a ten-year old, I strongly support doing something about the adverse impact of digital technologies on cognitive development.
I'll add a question, too. Marco, what do you make of the strong productivity performance of the last couple of years or so? Cyclical or structural, fading or here to stay?
Thanks Spyros. On productivity, the necessary caveat is the data are particularly volatile -- in the US, the last three quarters of 2023 were getting visibly stronger, then Q1 this year disappointed. Having said this, I think there is something structural at work. First superficial consideration: there has been so much innovation in the last couple of decades or so, it would be surprising if none of it made a difference to productivity. More concretely: companies have made increasingly intense efforts to adopt new technologies, including digital innovations. We know it takes time for these innovations to scale because companies need to invest, change their operations, upgrade workforce skills, change management practices. I think all these efforts are beginning to pay off. The first Information and Communications Technology revolution impacted productivity with a similar lag. So I am optimistic. But I also think that for the productivity acceleration to stay, we still need the policies I indicated in this piece.
P.S. on digital technologies and their cognitive impact I have a post coming up soon that you might find interesting.
What to do about productivity: a short and sweet must-read. I love this list for both its content and its brevity. And it's likely to cause offence in a bipartisan way, above all in the education realm. As a father of a ten-year old, I strongly support doing something about the adverse impact of digital technologies on cognitive development.
I'll add a question, too. Marco, what do you make of the strong productivity performance of the last couple of years or so? Cyclical or structural, fading or here to stay?
Thanks Spyros. On productivity, the necessary caveat is the data are particularly volatile -- in the US, the last three quarters of 2023 were getting visibly stronger, then Q1 this year disappointed. Having said this, I think there is something structural at work. First superficial consideration: there has been so much innovation in the last couple of decades or so, it would be surprising if none of it made a difference to productivity. More concretely: companies have made increasingly intense efforts to adopt new technologies, including digital innovations. We know it takes time for these innovations to scale because companies need to invest, change their operations, upgrade workforce skills, change management practices. I think all these efforts are beginning to pay off. The first Information and Communications Technology revolution impacted productivity with a similar lag. So I am optimistic. But I also think that for the productivity acceleration to stay, we still need the policies I indicated in this piece.
P.S. on digital technologies and their cognitive impact I have a post coming up soon that you might find interesting.
Thank you Marco, looking forward to it.