The Measure of Progress
Counting What Really Matters by Diane Coyle The Measure of Economies: Measuring Productivity in an Age of Technological Change eds. by Marshall B. Reinsdorf and Louise Sheiner
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7990282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ian Kumekawa (0000-0003-4370-7172, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 301-307 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2702 • E-ISSN: 1527-1919 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00182702-12303328 |
| OpenAlex | W4417278656 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
In his 1994 AEA pres i den tial address, Zvi Griliches wrote that "under stand ing of what is hap pen ing in our econ omy . . . is constrained by the extent and qual ity of avail able data" (quoted in Triplett 2007: 573).Today, we live in a world awash in data: trans mit ted through under sea cables, beamed to sat el lites, processed in serv ers, lev er aged by arti fi cial intel li gence.Data may be the life blood of today's infor ma tion econ omy, but mea sur ing the new dig i tal, intertwined global econ omy con tin ues to pose as many chal lenges as ever.Two new books-Diane Coyle's The Measure of Progress and an edited vol ume titled The Measure of Economies by Marshall B. Reinsdorf and Louise Sheiner-take on those chal lenges, high light cre a tive solu tions, and pre dict pos si ble futures of account ing for the econ omy.Though nei ther book is framed his tor i cally, both illus trate how the long his to ries of eco nomic mea sure ment shape cur rent prac tice.Coyle's book is more acces si ble to the lay reader, but both are full of detail, tech ni cal and oth er wise.They offer even the casual reader insight into the vital ques tions of how the econ omy is mea sured and con cep tu al ized.The Measure of Economies is "a rig or ous yet acces si ble syn the sis of the state of knowl edge" (3) for the mea sure ment of pro duc tiv ity and other national accounts.The chap ters, writ ten by econ o mists with direct expe ri ence in cal cu lat ing or esti mat ing account ing fig ures, offer just that.They detail meth ods, meth od ol o gies, and the rea son ing behind cur rent prac tices.They high light chal lenges and cre a tive workarounds.They sug gest future improve ments to mea sure ment, esti ma tion, and data col lec tion.The pic ture that emerges of the state of the field is one of con tin ual inno va tion.As the econ omy has grown increas ingly com plex, mea sur ing or esti mat ing its dimen sions
Measure (data warehouse) · Productivity · Technological change · Economic and Technological Innovation · Economic Development and Digital Transformation · Economic Growth and Productivity
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |