Book Reviews

Abstract

Markus Poschke of McGill University reviews “The World Economy: Growth or Stagnation?” by Dale W. Jorgenson, Kyoji Fukao, and Marcel P. Timmer. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Fourteen papers analyze the long-term process of structural change and productivity growth across the world using World KLEMS (capital, labor, energy, materials, and purchased services) Initiative research and provide comparisons of industries and economies in order to investigate the impact of international trade and investment. Papers discuss US economic growth—a retrospect, prospect, and lessons from a prototype industry-level production account for the United States, 1947–2012; the structural causes of Japan's lost decades; productivity growth in Europe before and since the 2008–09 economic and financial crisis; Latin American KLEMS (LA–KLEMS)—economic growth and productivity in Latin America; China's strategic move for a new stage of development—a productivity perspective; productivity growth in India under different policy regimes; whether mining is fueling long-run growth in Russia—industry productivity growth trends in 1995–2012; intangibles, information and communications technology, and industry productivity growth—evidence from the European Union; whether intangibles contribute to productivity growth in East Asian countries—evidence from Japan and the Republic of Korea; a Bureau of Economic Analysis–Bureau of Labor Statistics industry-level production account for the United States—integrated sources of growth, intangible capital, and the US recovery; measuring human capital—country experiences and international initiatives; a half-century of trans-Pacific competition—price-level indices and productivity gaps for Japanese and US industries, 1955–2012; searching for convergence and its causes—an industry perspective; and the rise of global manufacturing value chains—a new perspective based on the World Input–Output Database. Jorgenson is Samuel W. Morris University Professor at Harvard University. Fukao is Professor with the Institute of Economic Research at Hitotsubashi University and Program Leader at the Research Unit for Statistical and Empirical Analysis. Timmer is Professor of Economic Growth and Development and Director of the Groningen Growth and Development Centre at the University of Groningen. ”