No. 50, Spring 2026
The International Productivity Monitor (IPM) is the joint flagship publication of the Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) in Canada and The Productivity Institute.
Articles from the current edition of the IPM can be accessed below. Access to back issues from before 2021 as well as information on submission of papers for publication in the IPM can be obtained from the CSLS website. To receive publication information and updates from the International Productivity Monitor, please subscribe to our mailing list.
Number 50, Spring 2026
Editors’ Overview Stephen Tapp (Centre for the Study of Living Standards), Bart van Ark (The Productivity Institute, The University of Manchester) and Paul Schreyer (Economics Statistics Centre of Excellence, King’s College London)
- The publication of the 50th issue of the International Productivity Monitor marks an important milestone for the journal. Since its founding 25 years ago, the IPM has now published 350 articles by academics and policy practitioners from around the world. The journal’s success reflects the leadership and dedication of Andrew Sharpe. His founding role and longstanding stewardship as Managing Editor established the IPM as a respected forum for international knowledge exchange on productivity issues. The editors look forward to building on the strong foundation he established. This 50th issue contains six contributions covering five broad themes: artificial intelligence, intangible capital, manufacturing productivity, health care measurement, and the high cost of living.
The Potential for Sustained Productivity Impetus from GenAI Martin Neil Baily (The Brookings Institution), David M. Byrne (Federal Reserve Board of Governors), Aidan T. Kane (The Brookings Institution) and Paul E. Soto (Soto are both Principal Economists at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors)
- Two types of innovation — general purpose technologies (GPTs) and inventions in the method of invention (IMIs) — this article contends that there is suggestive evidence that GenAI is both a GPT and an IMI, a sign that its adoption will lead to higher labour productivity growth in the future.
The Productivity J-Curve from an International Perspective: Is the United States Unique? Ahmed Bounfour (Université Paris-Saclay and Africa Business School), Kazuma Edamura (Kanagawa University), Takayuki Ishikawa (Kanagawa University), Tsutomu Miyagawa, Alberto Nonnis (RIETI and Gakushuin University) and Konomi Tonogi (Rissho University)
- This article examines productivity estimates for five advanced economies: France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Using the estimated coefficients on intangibles (research and development, software, and organizational capital) in the value functions of listed firms over 2006-2020, the authors find that TFP underestimation caused by large intangible investments was largely unique to the United States, and was much smaller in Europe and Japan.
Does the Import Invasion Explain the Disappearance of Productivity Growth in U.S. Manufacturing? Robert J. Gordon and Kenneth Ryu (Northwestern University)
- This article shifts attention from 2010 as the start of the US manufacturing productivity growth slowdown to a decade earlier when output stopped growing. This cessation of output growth in 2000 is attributed to the invasion of imports that closed domestic plants, destroyed jobs, and squeezed profits.
The Anatomy of the U.S. Manufacturing Productivity Slowdown: Evidence from Firms and Industries Danial Lashkari and Jeremy Pearce (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)
- This article examines the sources of the US manufacturing labour productivity slowdown between 2010-2022 by decomposing manufacturing productivity growth into contributions from leader and follower firms within frontier and laggard industries. The authors find that the slowdown is broad-based: both for labour productivity and total factor productivity, productivity growth declined among both leaders and followers, across alternative weighting methods, and multiple industry groupings.
Productivity Growth in the U.S. Medical Care Sector: An Analysis Using the BEA’s Health Care Satellite Account Calvin Ackley, Abe Dunn (Bureau of Economic Analysis), Eli Liebman (University of Georgia) and John A. Romley (University of Southern California)
- Understanding healthcare productivity is critical, as the sector accounts for about 17 per cent of US gross domestic product. However, official statistics likely understate productivity growth by failing to capture improvements in medical technology and treatment quality. This article presents a simple framework that combines the Health Care Satellite Account with population health data to adjust prices and output for quality improvements. This approach approximates more comprehensive methods while remaining tractable. The authors’ results suggest substantial quality-adjusted productivity growth that is largely masked in official statistics.
Addressing Canada’s High Cost of Living: The Role of Productivity and Bargaining Power Claude Lavoie (Formerly Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch at Finance Canada)
- This commentary examines persistent concerns about the cost of living among Canadians, a phenomenon also observed across many developed economies. Despite macroeconomic indicators showing that household income has generally grown faster than prices in recent years, approximately 60 per cent of Canadians identify the cost of living as a primary concern. The author concludes that policy responses should prioritise housing supply, productivity growth and stronger worker bargaining power to ensure that economic gains translate into improved household welfare.
The edition is also available to read in full in one document.
