The future In my view, there are a number of reasons to expect that the stepped-up pace of underlying productivity growth that we have experienced since the mid-1990s can persist for a while longer. In particular, conditions similar to those that fostered previous productivity booms seem, on balance, to be in place today.
General purpose technologies such as the personal computer, fiber optics, wireless communications, and the Internet - to give just a few examples - continue to present new avenues for  BIS Review 40/2004  3  raising productivity. Past deregulation should enable businesses to adapt their organizational structures in response to these new opportunities.