Intangibles, Markups, and the Measurement of Productivity Growth / Nicolas Crouzet, Janice C. Eberly.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crouzet, Nicolas.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Eberly, Janice C.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w29109.

NBER working paper series no. w29109

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2021.

Summary:

In recent years, measured TFP growth in the US has declined. We argue that two forces contributed to this decline: the mismeasurement of intangible capital, and rising markups. Markups affect input shares, while intangibles omitted from measures of investment affect measured capital growth, each potentially generating downward bias in measured TFP growth. Most importantly, when both forces are simultaneously present, their effects reinforce each other and amplify the downward bias in measured TFP growth. Using input-output data, we estimate that this mechanism could account for one-third to two-thirds of the decline in measured TFP growth.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2021.