U.S Productivity Growth Predicted to be Slowest in History

NBER (Gordon) - This paper provides three perspectives on long-run growth rates of labor productivity (LP) and of multi-factor productivity (MFP) for the U. S. economy...The statistical trend for growth in total economy LP ranged from 2.75 percent in early 1962 down to 1.25 percent in late 1979 and recovered to 2.45 percent in 2002...[This paper's] conclusion is that over the next 20 years (2007-2027) ... total economy LP will be 1.7 percent ... [which] represents the slowest growth of the measured American standard of living over any two-decade interval recorded since the inauguration of George Washington.