The US economy has grown at only two per cent a year since the end of the Great Recession, far slower than prior recoveries. Labour force growth has been very slow, partly because of demographic changes, the aging of the workforce, and partly because of a decline in labour force participation. Productivity growth has also been very slow, with the slowdown starting in 2004, before the financial crisis and the recession. This presentation will explore alternative explanations for slow growth and examine whether or not the slowdown is real or simply a problem of the mismeasurement of the economy. The presentation will also look at some comparisons between Australian and US productivity growth.

Martin Neil Baily is the Bernard L Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development and Senior Fellow and Director of the Business and Public Policy Initiative. He is studying financial regulation, growth, and how to speed the recovery. He is a Senior Advisor to the McKinsey Global Institute and to the Albright Stonebridge Group. He is the co-chair of the Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative of the Bipartisan Policy Center, and a member of the Squam Lake Group of financial economists. Dr Baily is a Director of The Phoenix Companies of Hartford CT.