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Can Intangible Investment Explain the UK Productivity Puzzle? A Response and Comment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Bill Martin  and
Robert Rowthorn
Bill Martin*
Affiliation:
Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge
Robert Rowthorn
Affiliation:
Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge
*
E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This note responds to the recent critique by Goodridge, Haskel and Wallis (GHW) of our 2012 study of Britain's productivity puzzle. We show that a correct reworking of the latest official data on changes in labour composition overturns GHW's main criticism. We also question the strength of the empirical evidence offered by GHW in support of their alternative explanations of the productivity puzzle.

Keywords

intangible investmentlabour hoardingproductivityO47E22E24
Type
Research Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 226 , November 2013 , pp. R42 - R49
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

Jonathan Haskel invited our comment on an earlier published version of the GHW paper (Goodridge, Haskel and Wallis, 2013) but other commitments and the unavailability of official data prevented our swifter reply.

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