Economic Paradigms and Slow American Productivity Growth

Conventional explanations of America's slow productivity growth end up by giving up. Much of the slow down remains unexplained by changes in the quality or quantity of conventional inputs. If one looks at changes in occupational employment, it is clear that the productivity problem is an office and not a factory problem. White collar employment has simply grown much faster than it should have grown. To explain this growth, it is necessary to probe into theories of management and why they have led American firms into inefficiency. The answer is found in a misguided belief in "management by the numbers."