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> "Productivity" means "amount of input required to get a given output." I think you might be thinking of "productivity" as a synonym for "output". Okay but su

> "Productivity" means "amount of input required to get a given output." I think you might be thinking of "productivity" as a synonym for "output". Okay but surely we're only talking about average productivity with some assumptions on the approximate employment rate and hours worked per week. No one is going to be impressed by a "5% increase in productivity" next year if unemployment rises to 99%, the 1% of remaining workers only work 10 hours per week, but the average hour yields 5% higher output than the previous year.

gumby 4y ago
> Okay but surely we're only talking about average productivity with some assumptions on the approximate employment rate and hours worked per week. No. Productivity is simply output divided by some input factor. Employment rate, hours worked per week, wage: none are involved in that calculation (unless you're measuring productivity of the wage, i.e. COGS). > No one is going to be impressed by a "5% increase in productivity" next year if unemployment rises to 99%, the 1% of remaining workers only work 10 hours per week, but the average hour yields 5% higher output than the previous year. On the contrary, investors and managers will be very impressed by that.
- tshaddox 4y ago
  > On the contrary, investors and managers will be very impressed by that. No, they won't. You're free to propose any definitions of "productivity" you like, but this particular proposal doesn't remotely match what anyone will ever be talking about in discussions about productivity in the economy.
  - gumby 4y ago
    Indeed I propose the standard definition of productivity used in economics departments, business schools, and thousands of textbooks, news articles and the like, including those written by people, like Brynjolfsson, quoted in the article. Seems a lot easier to refer to papers, statistics and the like when you use the same terminology everyone else does.

gumby 4y ago

> Okay but surely we're only talking about average productivity with some assumptions on the approximate employment rate and hours worked per week. No. Productivity is simply output divided by some input factor. Employment rate, hours worked per week, wage: none are involved in that calculation (unless you're measuring productivity of the wage, i.e. COGS). > No one is going to be impressed by a "5% increase in productivity" next year if unemployment rises to 99%, the 1% of remaining workers only work 10 hours per week, but the average hour yields 5% higher output than the previous year. On the contrary, investors and managers will be very impressed by that.

tshaddox 4y ago
> On the contrary, investors and managers will be very impressed by that. No, they won't. You're free to propose any definitions of "productivity" you like, but this particular proposal doesn't remotely match what anyone will ever be talking about in discussions about productivity in the economy.
- gumby 4y ago
  Indeed I propose the standard definition of productivity used in economics departments, business schools, and thousands of textbooks, news articles and the like, including those written by people, like Brynjolfsson, quoted in the article. Seems a lot easier to refer to papers, statistics and the like when you use the same terminology everyone else does.