by Brandon Fuller
A nation's GDP is determined by its labor force, its capital stock, and its technological knowledge. An increase in the amount of capital per worker increases a nation's GDP. An improvement in technology allows a nation to get more GDP out of its existing capital stock. Technology refers to the way an economy organizes its labor and capital to produce goods and services. If two nations have the same number of workers and capital but one nation uses better technology to get more out of its labor and capital, it will generate more GDP. The nation with better technology has higher productivity--it gets more output per hour of labor input.

A recent Hal Varian commentary in the New York Times focused on the role of technological knowledge in explaining the different productivity experiences of Europe and the United States. Compared to Europe, the United States experienced much stronger growth in output per labor hour over the past decade. Why? The evidence suggests that American firms integrate information technology more quickly than their European counterparts.