> Productivity is a measure of how much value is produced ('money is made') per hour of work. [..] A trader at a bank who moves millions of shares with a phone

> Productivity is a measure of how much value is produced ('money is made') per hour of work. [..] A trader at a bank who moves millions of shares with a phone call and a few mouse clicks is more productive than the bulldozer operator. [..] A high productivity per hour in a country means fewer ditches are dug using shovels, and more credit default swaps are sold. When you say "value is produced", you seem to be conflating two concepts, how much value is captured by an individual/firm, and how much value is created for the whole economy. When bankers make lots of money for themselves and their employers, are they creating wealth for the economy, or are they merely participating in a zero-sum game where their gain is someone else's loss? I expect it's a combination of the two.