Citation:
Mayhew,K.; Neely,A.; Improving productivity - Opening the black box, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2006, 22, 4, 445-456.
Abstract:
Hourly productivity levels in the UK still remain behind those in some competitor countries. The government
devotes much policy attention to enhancing productivity and continues to emphasise its five drivers—investment,
innovation, skills, enterprise, and competition. This article argues that it is investment broadly defined
that is the key to sustained productivity improvement. The emphasis should be on improving productivity
simultaneously with improving the quality of production. Only thus will the gains be widely shared. In
achieving these aims there are two prerequisites for policy-makers. The first is to ensure better coordination
of policy than appears to be currently achieved by the present departmental structures in Whitehall. The
second is to recognize fully the long and complex chain of causation that can be triggered by pulling on one
policy lever. Such complexity can only be fully understood by more research on what actually goes on inside
the black box of the organization.