Barry Ritholtz, Columnist

We're More Productive Than We Think

Technology has raced ahead of the tools we have for measuring economic output.

November 2, 2016 at 3:26 PM UTC

Barry Ritholtz is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and was previously chief market strategist at Maxim Group. He is the author of “Bailout Nation.”

That was then.
Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

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Earlier this year I suggested that there was a problem with the tools we use to measure economic productivity:

I have since refined that conclusion: Productivity models don't properly capture gains created by the application of new technology. Furthermore, without a revamp of Bureau of Labor Statistics’ productivity models, this distortion is going to become greater because of the latest iterations of mobile-technology apps. This is important because productivity is a crucial driver of economic growth, which by conventional measures hasn't been very impressive since the financial crisis.