This Paper first documents the comparative productivity performance of the United States and Britain since 1870, showing the importance of developments in services. We identify the transition in market services from customized, low-volume, high margin business organized on a network basis to standardized, high-volume, low margin business with hierarchical management, as a key factor. A model of the interaction between technology, organization and economic performance is then provided, focusing on the transition from networks to hierarchies. Four general lessons are drawn: (1) developments in services must be analysed if the major changes in comparative productivity performance among nations are to be understood fully; (2) different technologies and organizational forms can co-exist efficiently; (3) technological change can cause difficulties of adjustment in technology-using sectors if it is not suited to the social capabilities of the society; (4) reversal of technological trends can lead to reversal of comparative productivity performance.
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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number
4428.
Find related papers by JEL classification: N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative O40 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General