IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/boe/qbullt/0136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The UK productivity puzzle

Author

Listed:
  • Barnett, Alina

    () (Bank of England)

  • Batten, Sandra

    () (Bank of England)

  • Chiu, Adrian

    () (Bank of England)

  • Franklin, Jeremy

    () (Bank of England)

  • Sebastia-Barriel, Maria

    () (Bank of England)

Abstract

Labour productivity growth in the United Kingdom has been particularly weak since the start of the crisis. The recent strength in hiring and modest pickup in productivity growth suggest that spare capacity within firms is unlikely to explain much of the current weakness. Factors related to the nature of the financial crisis are likely to be having a persistent impact on the level of productivity — but there remains considerable uncertainty around any interpretation of the puzzle.

Suggested Citation

  • Barnett, Alina & Batten, Sandra & Chiu, Adrian & Franklin, Jeremy & Sebastia-Barriel, Maria, 2014. "The UK productivity puzzle," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 54(2), pages 114-128.
    • Handle: RePEc:boe:qbullt:0136
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/the-uk-productivity-puzzle.pdf?la=en&hash=719436EE2332C3F0C428FD90CEB91B7A79182275
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nick Bloom & Stephen Bond & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Uncertainty and Investment Dynamics," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(2), pages 391-415.
    2. Bernard, Andrew B. & Redding, Stephen J. & Schott, Peter K. & Simpson, Helen, 2002. "Factor Price Equalization in the UK?," CEPR Discussion Papers 3523, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Fernandez-Corugedo, Emilio & McMahon, Michael & Millard, Stephen & Rachel, Lukasz, 2011. "Understanding the macroeconomic effects of working capital in the United Kingdom," Bank of England working papers 422, Bank of England.
    4. Benito, Andrew & Neiss, Katharine & Price, Simon & Rachel, Lukasz, 2010. "The impact of the financial crisis on supply," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 50(2), pages 104-114.
    5. King, Philip & Millard, Stephen, 2014. "Modelling the service sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58234, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Ricardo J. Caballero & Mohamad L. Hammour, 2000. "Creative Destruction and Development: Institutions, Crises, and Restructuring," NBER Working Papers 7849, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Arrowsmith, Martin & Griffiths, Martin & Franklin, Jeremy & Wohlmann, Evan & Young, Garry & Gregory, David, 2013. "SME forbearance and its implications for monetary and financial stability," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 53(4), pages 296-303.
    8. Nicholas Oulton & María Sebastiá-Barriel, 2013. "Long and Short-Term Effects of the Financial Crisis on Labour Productivity, Capital and Output," CEP Discussion Papers dp1185, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1989. "Financial Markets and Development," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 55-68, Winter.
    10. Richard Disney & Jonathan Haskel & Ylva Heden, 2003. "Restructuring and productivity growth in uk manufacturing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(489), pages 666-694, July.
    11. Haddow, Abigail & Hare, Chris & Hooley, John & Shakir, Tamarah, 2013. "Macroeconomic uncertainty: what is it, how can we measure it and why does it matter?," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 53(2), pages 100-109.
    12. Rachel Griffith & Elena Huergo & Jacques Mairesse & Bettina Peters, 2006. "Innovation and Productivity Across Four European Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 483-498, Winter.
    13. Alina Barnett & Ben Broadbent & Adrian Chiu & Jeremy Franklin & Helen Miller, 2014. "Impaired Capital Reallocation and Productivity," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 228(1), pages 35-48, May.
    14. Peter Goodridge & Jonathan Haskel & Gavin Wallis, 2013. "Can Intangible Investment Explain the UK Productivity Puzzle?," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 224(1), pages 48-58, May.
    15. Ricardo J. Caballero & Takeo Hoshi & Anil K. Kashyap, 2008. "Zombie Lending and Depressed Restructuring in Japan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1943-1977, December.
    16. Joao Paulo Pessoa & John Van Reenen, 2013. "Decoupling of Wage Growth and Productivity Growth? Myth and Reality," CEP Discussion Papers dp1246, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    17. Bell, Venetia & Co, Lai Wah & Stone, Sophie & Wallis, gavin`, 2014. "Nowcasting UK GDP growth," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 54(1), pages 58-68.
    18. Barnett, Alina & Chiu, Adrian & Franklin, Jeremy & Sebastia-Barriel, Maria, 2014. "The productivity puzzle: a firm-level investigation into employment behaviour and resource allocation over the crisis," Bank of England working papers 495, Bank of England.
    19. Nelson, Benjamin & Tanaka, Misa, 2014. "Dealing with a banking crisis: what lessons can be learned from Japan’s experience?," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 54(1), pages 36-48.
    20. Hughes, Abigail & Saleheen, Jumana, 2012. "UK labour productivity since the onset of the crisis — an international and historical perspective," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 52(2), pages 138-146.
    21. Bernard, Andrew B & Jones, Charles I, 1996. "Productivity and Convergence across U.S. States and Industries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 113-135.
    22. Relleen, Jon & Copple, David & Corder, Matthew & Fawcett, Nicholas, 2013. "The Agents’ company visit scores," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 53(1), pages 59-67.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:boe:qbullt:0136. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Publications Group). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/boegvuk.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.