Information Technology and Productivity Growth

Theo S. Eicher, Professor and Robert R. Richards Distinguished Scholar, University of Washington, Seattle, US and Affiliate Professor, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany and Thomas Strobel, Economist, Department of International Institutional Comparisons, Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich, Germany

• Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Deriving New Economy Data at the Industry Level 3. Industry Origins of the US Productivity Accelerations and Germany’s Productivity Slump 4. ICT Intensity and Productivity Growth: An International Comparison 5. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Productivity: Software Investments as the Decisive Driver 6. Education and ICT Investment Complementarities 7. Industry Productivity, R&D Intensity, and ICT Investment References Index

'Eicher and Strobel have traced the recent US productivity acceleration and the German productivity slump to substantially higher levels of investment in information and communications technology in the United States. They have demonstrated how this investment interacts with the intensity of skills and in research and development to generate productivity growth. This is an important contribution to our understanding of the ongoing divergence of productivity in Europe and the United States.'