Towards the end of the last decade American productivity began to slump, a sign to some that the pay-off from new information technology had largely been exhausted. But coming out of the recession productivity surged; it rose by 3.9% last year, the fastest rate since 2002. This was largely cyclical, since business output has recovered more quickly than hiring. Long-term productivity growth will be more modest, and its rate will depend on investment, human capital and innovation.
After collapsing during the recession, investment in business equipment has bounced back, rising 17% in the last quarter of 2010 from the figure a year earlier. Human capital is more of a challenge. Americans once led the world in educational attainment, but this is now barely rising while other countries have caught up . That is a key reason why Dale Jorgenson, an economist at Harvard University, reckons overall productivity growth will average 1.5% in the coming decade, down from 2% in the previous two.
Innovation is what preoccupies Mr Obama. He worries that the next breakthroughs in energy, transport and information technology will occur elsewhere. His advisers fret that federal research and development has fallen sharply since the Sputnik era. But the picture is more encouraging once private RD is included. In 2008, the most recent year for which data are available, total RD was 2.8% of GDP, near the top of its historical range . American patent applications tailed off during the recession, but only after doubling in the decade before.
【雅思阅读材料:the Innovation of Ameirica】相关文章:
★ 雅思阅读实战演练
★ 雅思阅读:必杀技
最新
2016-02-26
2016-02-26
2016-02-26
2016-02-26
2016-02-26
2016-02-26