Measuring Information Technology and Productivity in the New Economy

The growing importance of information technology raises significant challenges for statisticians and economists. The US national accounts now incorporate sophisticated measurement tools to capture the rapid rates of technological change and dramatic improvements in the performance/price ratio of many hightech assets like computer hardware, software, and telecommunications goods. These data have been incorporated into traditional sources of growth analyses to identify the impact of information technology on the US economy. The emerging consensus is that information technology played a key role in the post-1995 revival of US productivity growth.