For example, firms in general may be somewhat more averse to risk and less willing to make long-term commitments. Households may want a larger cushion of accumulated wealth, perhaps increasing the saving rate for a time. They may also reallocate their wealth toward safer and more-liquid assets. These developments, on balance, would take a toll on longer-term productivity growth.
Nevertheless, in my view, they are not large enough to alter the conclusion that the pace of innovation in information technology and other industries has raised underlying productivity growth to a rate faster than prevailed in the twenty-five years prior to the mid-1990s. Still, the productivity story is exceptionally complex.