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This study consists of an examination of productivity growth following three major technological breakthroughs: the steam power revolution, electrification and the ICT revolution. The distinction between sectors producing and sectors using the new technology is emphasized. A major finding for all breakthroughs is that there is a long lag from the time of the original invention until a substantial increase in the rate of productivity growth can be observed. There is also strong evidence of rapid price decreases for steam engines, electricity, electric motors and ICT products. However, there is no persuasive direct evidence that the steam engine producing industry and electric machinery had particularly high productivity growth rates. For the ICT revolution the highest productivity growth rates are found in the ICT-producing industries. We suggest that one explanation could be that hedonic price indexes are not used for the steam engine and the electric motor. Still, it is likely that the rate of technological development has been much more rapid during the ICT revolution compared to any of the previous breakthroughs.

This chapter examines explanations for the slowdown of capital accumulation since 1980. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data on trends on productivity and capital spending, we find that slowing productivity growth accounts for slower capital accumulation. Other explanations for the downturn, such as outsourcing, the “post-industrial” economy, and financialization, do not reflect macroeconomic trends. However, we argue that shareholder value ideology affected decisions about how to balance productivity growth and inputs such as capital and labor. We discuss the consequences of slowing accumulation on American economic hegemony.

There is a rich literature which states that India did not suffer much from the impacts of the US financial crisis, but there is a school of thought which believes that the idea of India being insulated or decoupled from the contagion on account of limited integration into the world economy has been proved to be wrong. What is interesting is the focus has always been on the services sector and not on the manufacturing sector in India. In this background, this chapter tries to understand whether manufacturing sectors' productivity growth was one of the reasons that the crisis worsened in India or was it because of the crisis that India's manufacturing sector went into a deep recession. To look into the causality issue, the author estimates the productivity loss index (PLI) for the Indian industries during the period between July 2007 and July 2010 by estimating the fall in growth percentages in consecutive months for a total of 9,000 manufacturing, mining, and electricity industries. The data at monthly level have been retrieved from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) Prowess database. Based on the causality results, the chapter shows that it was because of the subprime crisis that India's manufacturing sector went into a deep recession. Using a probit model, the chapter also estimates the probability of the US subprime crisis being responsible for the productivity loss in India's manufacturing sector during the above-mentioned period.

With economic reforms increasing market competition, greater efficiency and productivity of factors of production, particularly of the workforce, have become important prerequisites for firms' growth and survival. Consequently, designing appropriate strategies to motivate the workforce in this direction appears as a critical aspect of human resource management. However, an important issue is if increase in wages, salaries, and other benefits can necessarily result in the desired outcomes. This chapter will examine this aspect. Estimating long-term trends in share of wages, salaries, and total emoluments in major industries, it is found that while the share of wages, salaries, and total emoluments has increased in recent years, such changes are not reflected in higher productivity. It is, therefore, suggested that, in addition to higher wages, salaries, and other benefits, enhancing efficiency and productivity of human resources requires adequate emphasis on human aspects as well.

Total factor productivity growth (TFPG) is not only the technological progress. It is a boarder concept. It may be the increase in the productivity of inputs, economies of scale, capacity utilization, technological progress, etc. In this study, we have tried to estimate TFPG and its components for the manufacturing industries of West Bengal and overall India, for the period 1980–1981 to 2016–2017, using stochastic frontier approach. The main data source of this study is the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), which is published by the Central Statistical Organization, Government of India. The entire period has been sub-divided into two phases; pre-World Trade Organization (WTO) regime (1980–1981 to 1995–1996) and post-WTO regime (1995–1996 to 2016–2017). This study also tries to make a comparative analysis between the TFPG of manufacturing sector of West Bengal and all India level for the time period mentioned above. For West Bengal, TFPG has decreased for the post-WTO regime and it has increased in post-WTO regime for overall.

Air pollution affects labour productivity and these effects arise in both indoor and outdoor environments and at varying levels of worker skill. They also arise at levels of air pollution generally considered to be within existing air quality standards and guidelines. Although the damage per individual is small when compared to more extreme events, such as mortality and hospitalisations, the effects are more widespread and may thus represent a significant cost to society. Labour is an essential element in every nation’s economy serving as one of the primary factors of production and India not an exception. Investing in human capital is viewed as a key source of sustained increase in labour productivity and economic growth. On the other hand, environmental regulations are typically considered to be a struggle on the economy. However, improved environmental quality may actually enhance productivity by creating a healthier workforce. At the same time, air pollution may affect labour productivity and can reduce the productivity of workers in physically demanding occupations. This chapter may be an attempt to provide comprehensive estimates of the major air pollutants in different states of India and also tries to identify the linkage between air pollution and labour productivity in case of Indian manufacturing sector.

In view of discussion of two crises, Asian Financial crisis, 1997 and global meltdown, 2008 spreading over more than two decades, the objective of this article is to present econometrically whether productivity growth across countries can be a remedial measure toward tackling global recession pervaded during recent two or three decades worldwide and also to shed light on the aspect of whether productivity can truly act as a driver of growth of selected six economies like Korea Republic, Japan, India, China, USA, UK, and world economy as a whole. The panel data for the six selected countries for the period 1990–2018 were constructed keeping eyes on the 1997 Asian financial crisis and then the 2008–09 global economic crisis and a random effects model was applied after Hausman test. The empirical findings disclosed that the impacts on the growth of economies (represented by growth of GDP) from the growth rates of the manufacturing sector, labor productivity of manufacturing sector, and labor quantity are positive and statistically significant; while the effects of growth of the capital deepening and labor composition on economic growth of those sampled countries are statistically significant but negative. Some key factors that are likely to affect future productivity performance are centered on some issues like facilitating global learning spillovers; allowing productive firms to thrive; and making the most of human capital that should be taken care of.

This study is an attempt to estimate the output growth and total factor productivity growth (TFPG) in Indian manufacturing industry. Most of the developed nations have been facing economic depression in its output and employment growth frequently which led to several worldwide recessions and developing nations have also been affected by these. Our objective is to examine a possible way of mitigating economic recession in the light of Indian experience. In these connections we have tried to establish a link between TFPG and indicators of economic growth like export, GDP, employment, etc. We have computed TFPG of Indian manufacturing industry for last 30 years. On an average TFPG of Indian manufacturing industry has been found negative with a declining trend. Time series analysis of our study reveals that all the variables are stationary at first difference. They are also found to be co-integrated. On the basis of volumes of India's exports of manufacturing products in 2017, we have selected top 27 destination countries. More than 60% of Indian's manufacturing products were exported to these countries in this year. We have conducted panel data analysis to find the relation between TFPG and growth of India's export. The result shows that there has been a positive and significant relation between these two. This study also found that there has been a positive relation between growth of gross value added and employment growth in Indian manufacturing industry. So, TFPG may be a useful way to mitigate economic recession.