Staff Report 350

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Productivity and the Post-1990 U.S. Economy
Edward C. Prescott - Senior Monetary Advisor
Ellen R. McGrattan - Monetary Advisor
Revised May 2005

Abstract

In this paper, we show that ignoring corporate intangible investments gives a distorted picture of the post-1990 U.S. economy. In particular, ignoring intangible investments in the late 1990s leads one to conclude that productivity growth was modest, corporate profits were low, and corporate investment was at moderate levels. In fact, the late 1990s was a boom period for productivity growth, corporate profits, and corporate investment.

 

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