Report

Productivity and the post-1990 U.S. economy

Abstract: In this paper, we show that ignoring corporate intangible investments gives a distorted picture of the post-1990 U.S. economy. In particular, ignoring intangible investments in the late 1990s leads one to conclude that productivity growth was modest, corporate profits were low, and corporate investment was at moderate levels. In fact, the late 1990s was a boom period for productivity growth, corporate profits, and corporate investment.

Keywords: Industrial productivity;

Status: Published in Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review> (Vol. 87, No. 4, July/August 2005, pp. 537-549)

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Part of Series: Staff Report

Publication Date: 2005

Number: 350