The 1980's Scottish productivity boom : good news or bad?

Kirwan, Frank and McGregor, Peter (1984) The 1980's Scottish productivity boom : good news or bad? Quarterly Economic Commentary, 10 (2). pp. 75-77. ISSN 0306-7866

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Abstract

One of the most striking features of the Scottish and UK economies has been the sustained increase in labour productivity in manufacturing since the latter part of 1980. The "productivity boom" has been less marked in Scotland than in the UK as a whole, but has nonetheless been significant. Is the productivity boom good or bad news for the Scottish economy? The official view is that the increase in labour productivity reflects in some sense a strengthening of the economy. This view may indeed be an important element in the official, but nonetheless erroneous, view that Scotland is "leading the UK out of recession".

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