The turbulence experienced in the banking sector therefore resulted in a consolidation of activities before a return to stability was achieved. At the end of June 2003, approximately 83 per cent of total deposits by the public landed in the vaults of the big four banks.
This poor performance appears to be at least partly attributable to insufficient “capital deepening” – that is, the amount of capital with which workers are equipped. Another part of the problem appears to be that capital investment is not always well integrated into the workplace. 5 Let me expand on this last point. I’m referring here to what we call multifactor productivity.