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Information Technology and Productivity in the “New Economy”

Information Technology and Productivity in the “New Economy”. Kevin J. Stiroh* Federal Reserve Bank of New York Digital Transformations in the Information Society International Telecommunication Union & London Business School June 1, 2006.

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Information Technology and Productivity in the “New Economy”

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  1. Information Technology and Productivityin the “New Economy” Kevin J. Stiroh* Federal Reserve Bank of New York Digital Transformations in the Information Society International Telecommunication Union & London Business School June 1, 2006 *The views expressed here represent those of the author only and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System.

  2. Outline • The “new economy” • IT and productivity growth • Five questions

  3. The “New Economy”

  4. What is the New Economy?(circa March 2000) • New economy forces • Information technology (IT) • Globalization • Deregulation • New economy evidence • Faster productivity growth (output/hour) • Low unemployment and low inflation • Strong stock market

  5. What’s Left of the New Economy?(circa June 2006) • Some parts faded • Unemployment jumped to 6% in 2002 • Stock market, particularly tech, down since 2000 • Some parts remain robust • Moderate inflation • Strong productivity growth (output/hour) Focus on productivity growth and IT

  6. Why Is Labor Productivity Growth Important? • Productivity determines living standards • Productivity helps offset inflationary pressures

  7. 47:Q4-73:Q4 = 2.6% 73:Q4-95:Q4 = 1.5% 95:Q4-06:Q1 = 2.9%

  8. Why is IT Important? • Enormous technological progress • Moore’s Law • Price of a calculation fell by a factor of 1.2 trillion since 1900 (Nordhaus, 2001) • Rapidly falling prices

  9. GDP price index, BEA (5/23/06).

  10. GDP price index and computer price index, BEA (5/23/06).

  11. Why is IT Important? • Enormous technological progress • Moore’s Law • Price of a calculation fell by a factor of 1.2 trillion since 1900 (Nordhaus, 2001) • Rapidly falling prices • Massive investment by U.S. firms • Nearly 40% of nonresidential business investment in IT • Real IT investment grew 16% per year since 1959

  12. IT investment as a share of GDP. Current dollars, BEA (5/23/06).

  13. IT and Productivity Growth

  14. Three Sources of Productivity • Capital deepening • Investment provides more/better capital to labor • Labor quality • Compositional changes in the workforce • Total factor productivity (TFP) • Technology and everything else

  15. IT and Productivity:The Story • Fundamental technological progress • Moore’s Law • Productivity gains in IT-production (TFP) • Enormous declines in IT prices and increases in IT quality • Investment in IT • Firms substitute toward IT • Productivity gains in IT-use (capital deepening)

  16. IT and Productivity:The Evidence • Sources of U.S. productivity growth resurgence • IT / productivity link across industries and countries • Case studies of individual industries

  17. IT Drives the U.S. Productivity Resurgence1995-2004 less 1973-1995 Increase in Labor Productivity Growth Change 1.5 IT- Production (TFP) 0.3 • IT-Use (Capital Deepening) 0.5 • Other TFP 0.6 • Other Capital Deepening 0.3 • Labor Quality - 0.1 Average annual contribution in percentage points for U.S. business sector. Jorgenson, Ho, and Stiroh (2006).

  18. What Does the Industry Data Say? • Examine link between IT and industry productivity • Compare three sets of industries • IT-producing • IT-using • Other

  19. International Comparisons • Compare U.S. to Europe

  20. U.S. Productivity Accelerates, while EU Productivity Slows Note: Productivity is defined as GDP per hour worked. All figures are average annual percent growth. van Ark and Inklaar (2005).

  21. Explaining the U.S. / Europe Divergencevan Ark and co-authors • Both have strong productivity in IT-production, but Europe has smaller share • Smaller gains in IT-using industries • Particularly Retail, Wholesale, and Finance • Labor and product market rigidities • Faster growth in “New Europe” than in “Old Europe”

  22. Case Studies • Trucking Industry • Electronic vehicle management systems and GPS • More efficient operations, monitoring, fewer empty backhauls, less waiting to load/unload • Emergency vehicles • Computerized “enhanced 911” system leads to better matching of equipment • Improved health outcomes and lower patient costs • Retail • Technology allows scale and scope • Better information on customers, inventories, supply chain management

  23. Productivity Outlook • Project productivity growth for next decade • Uncertainty about technological progress • Pessimistic • Base-case • Optimistic • Range of technology forecasts • International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors

  24. Percent

  25. Percent Percent

  26. IT and Productivity • IT is important for productivity • Production and use both matter • Wide range of evidence • Expect strong productivity for next decade • Considerable uncertainty, but little evidence of return to slow pace of 1973-95

  27. Five Questions

  28. What Changed in 1995? • Acceleration of IT technological progress • Shift to 2-year semiconductor cycle (Jorgenson, 2001) • Widespread use of Internet and e-commerce • OECD (2000) and Nordhaus (2000) • Emergence of open-source software • (DeLong, 2000) • Learning-by-doing

  29. Can IT Technological Progress Continue? • Pessimistic view • Diminishing returns (Gordon, 2000) • End of Moore’s Law (Mann, 2000) • Optimistic view • Silicon pipeline is full for the next decade or two • New technologies • DWDM, blue lasers, molecular-scale electronics, nano and quantum computing • Hard to predict long-run technological advances

  30. Will Firms Continue to Invest in IT? • Possible impediments • Rising interest rates • National security • Decline in investment funds due to current account • Saturation point for IT • Reasons for optimism • Changes in “locus of innovation” and new applications • Relative price changes are driving investment

  31. Does the “dot.com” Bubble Debunk the IT/Productivity Story? • No – confusion of productivity and profits • Ultimate winner will be consumers as profits are competed away and prices fall

  32. Is IT the Whole Story? • No • Firms need complementary innovations • Human capital • Organization structure • Information flows • Workplace practices • Weaker productivity/IT link since 2000 • Intangible capital?

  33. Conclusions • IT has made important contributions to U.S. productivity gains • Core of truth in the “new economy” hype • Technological progress lowers the price of IT • Lower prices spur IT investment • Consensus that U.S. productivity growth will continue

  34. Information Technology and Productivityin the “New Economy” Kevin J. Stiroh* Federal Reserve Bank of New York Digital Transformations in the Information Society International Telecommunication Union & London Business School June 1, 2006 *The views expressed here represent those of the author only and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System.

  35. Reference Charts

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