Productivity and Innovation

The programme director is Professor John Van Reenen.
Room R460,
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 7049 (Linda Cleavely, Admin. Secretary) ,
Email: j.vanreenen@lse.ac.uk

See staff involved on this programme.
See discussion papers published under this programme
See news and press coverage related to this programme.
See funders involved with this programme.

Innovation and productivity are at the centre of economic wellbeing, but Britain and Europe are seen to be lagging behind the United States. The programme addresses three major questions. Why is UK productivity (output per hour worked) still so far below that in the US, France and Germany? What are the reasons for wide variations in firm productivity even within narrowly defined sectors? And why has productivity growth in the US has been so much more impressive over recent years than in the UK and European economies?

The program examines the role of information and communication technologies, new organisational practices, skills, R&D and the regulation of the labour and product markets in shaping innovation and productivity. There is a strong focus on linking empirical findings to practical policy and economic theory.

For an overview of the issues see Technological Innovation and Performance in the United Kingdom (in Adobe PDF) and Policies for raising Productivity (in Adobe PDF).

The legacy of the Blair era in productivity is summarised in our policy briefing UK Productivity During The Blair Era.

We take a look at the European position in the policy briefing Boosting Innovation and Productivity Growth in Europe: The hope and the realities of the EU's 'Lisbon agenda'.

We discuss some issues in US innovation policy by examining the impact of the proposed doubling of the NSF budget: What if Congress Doubled R&D Spending on the Physical Sciences?

Research