Productivity and Value: The Political Economy of Measuring Progress

Productivity and Value takes a critical look at the generic concepts of productivity as they are used in most of the conventional literature. In this compelling book, the author challenges the concept of total-factor productivity as a valid indicator of successes or failures in economic policy and in the economy generally. Unique to this book is the consistent distinction made between economic and physical expressions. The author examines the difficulties when physical and economic measures are mixed. Instead, he proposes that productivity, as a measure of progress in production, should be limited to single-factor of key commodities, such as land, labor, energy, and capital. Such a measure, he claims, will be more realistic and will also come closer to being understood by the public.

FOLKE DOVRING was a consultant for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Professor of Land Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.