The Oxford Handbook of Productivity Analysis

Book excerpt: Rates of productivity growth slowed following the global financial crisis in nearly all OECD countries. Diverse national productivity performances are aggregates of the productivity performances of individual producers, which are influenced by organizational factors such as the quality of management practices and the adoption of new technologies, and also by institutional features such as the stringency of product and labor market and environmental regulations. At the level of the individual producer, productivity has an important impact on financial performance and survival, while at the aggregate level, productivity is a critical determinant of national well-being.