Word: productivity
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...treat it with a numerologist's zeal. When it drops, we assume that grave societal consequences will follow. Macroeconomic policy is formed in its shadow. But now the granddaddy of economic statistics - gross domestic product (GDP) - is under attack. An assortment of economists, psychologists and sociologists are beginning to say that GDP is an imprecise measurement of economic performance that distracts policymakers from more important measures of societal well-being...
...that should give the automaker's comeback extra kick in the future, including restructuring wages, work rules and retiree health-care elements in its agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW), as well as some reduction in debt, the maintenance of a sizable liquidity position and a more competitive product portfolio. (Ford obtained concessions on wages identical to those the UAW approved at GM and Chrysler, though Ford is now negotiating for additional work-rule changes and a no-strike clause...
...Summer.” The movie, a fluffy Joseph Gordon-Levitt vehicle, takes off from an interesting premise: A pretty female protagonist rejects the labels of a straightforward relationship. For all its pretenses at innovation in the form of jump-cuts and non-linear narrative, though, the final product makes no attempt at exploring the motivations behind that stance at all. The inner struggles through which the main character, or women like Bruni, must have suffered to achieve their levels of self-assuredness remain opaque; the movie in which Bruni’s track plays ultimately serves to subvert...
...deficit grew to an estimated $1.6 trillion in the fiscal year that ends this month. That's by far the biggest shortfall ever, in dollar terms. The government will have spent $3.7 trillion and taken in $2.1 trillion. Even by the more forgiving yardstick of percentage of gross domestic product, the shortfall is, at 11.2%, the biggest since World War II. It will be smaller next year but still huge by historical standards. At some point this starts to matter, right...
...most plausible explanation for this happy outcome is that Japan was willing to recycle into Treasuries the dollars it earned selling us cars, TVs and stereos. That demand for U.S. debt kept interest rates low. By the early 1990s, though, the national debt - the accumulated product of those years of deficits - approached 50% of GDP, and bond investors abroad and at home seemed to shy away from Treasuries, driving interest rates up. Also, billionaire Ross Perot spent a good part of his fortune making deficits into a political issue. In response, Washington focused for a few years on getting...