New directions in productivity analysis.

• Position: Conference of Research on Income and Wealth of the National Bureau of Economic Research on Mar 20 and 21, 1998

On March 20 and 21, the NBER held a Conference of Research on Income and Wealth on the topic of new directions in productivity analysis. Conference organizers Edwin Dean and Michael Harper, both of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Charles R. Hulten, NBER and University of Maryland, selected the following papers for discussion:

Charles R. Hulten, "Total Factor Productivity: A Historical Review and Assessment"

Discussant: Jack Triplett, Bureau of Economic Analysis

Edwin Dean and Michael Harper, "The BLS Productivity Measurement Program"

Discussant: W. Erwin Diewert, NBER and University of British Columbia

M. Ishaq Nadiri, NBER and New York University, and Ingmar R. Prucha, University of Maryland, "Dynamic Factor Demand Models and Productivity Analysis"

Discussant: Dale Jorgenson, Harvard University

Susanto Basu, NBER and Harvard University, and John Fernald, Federal Reserve Board, "Why is Productivity Procyclical? Why Do We Care?"

Discussant: Catherine Morrison, University of California, Davis

Jeremy Greenwood, University of Rochester, and Boyan Jovanovic, NBER and New York University, "Accounting for Growth"

Discussant: Barry Bosworth, Brookings Institution

Lucia Foster and C.J. Krizan, Bureau of the Census; and John Haltiwanger, NBER and University of Maryland, "Aggregate Productivity Growth: Lessons from Microeconomic Evidence"

Discussant: Mark J. Roberts, NBER and Pennsylvania State University

Nazrul Islam, Emory University, "Different Approaches to International Comparison of Total Factor Productivity"

Discussant: Charles Jones, NBER and Stanford University

Barbara M. Fraumeni, Northeastern University, "Expanding Economic Accounts for Productivity Analysis: A Nonmarket and Human Capital Perspective"

Discussant: Frank Wykoff, Pomona College

Martin Baily, McKinsey & Company, Inc., and Eric Zitzewitz, MIT, "Service Sector Productivity Comparisons: A Business Approach"

Discussant: Robert J. Gordon, NBER and Northwestern University

Ernst R. Berndt, NBER and MIT; and A. Denny Ellerman and Thomas Stoker, MIT, "Investment, Productivity, and Capacity in U.S. Coal Mining: Macro vs. Micro Perspectives"

Discussant: Larry Rosenblum, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Eldon Ball and Shawna Grosskopf, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Rolf Fare and Richard Nehring, Southern Illinois University, "Productivity of the U.S. Agricultural Sector: The Case of Undesirable Outputs"

Discussant: Robin Sickles, Rice University

Frank Gollop and Gregory Swinand, Boston College, "Total Resource Productivity: Accounting for Changing Environmental Quality"

Discussant: William Pizer, Resources for the Future

Hulten's paper traces the development of the Solow residual from its origins in the national accounting...