信息技术革命与生产率悖论

信息技术革命无疑是人类经济史上一次意义深远的技术进步,但是统计上的观察表明,自20世纪六七十年代美国爆发信息技术革命以来,经济不仅没有得到更快的增长,而且与此前的年份相比,劳动生产率、全要素生产增长水平反而呈现出一种下降的趋势。理论上,一般把这种现象称作为“生产率悖论”。本文试图对这一悖论的几种解释进行考察和评析,以期为国内相关研究提供一个理论基础。

Revolution of Information Technology and Productivity Paradox

It is no doubt that the IT revolution is a great technological progress in human history. However, statistics data shows that since the birth of the IT revolution in the 1960s or 1970s the US economy did not grow faster enough, so did labor productivity and multifactor productivity. Theoretically, this phenomenon is called "productivity paradox". This paper examines and assesses the most common explanations for the paradox, in attempt to provide some theoretical background for further research.