The global average is still just under 2%, the emerging countries over 3%, the United States and other industrialised countries just under 1%. This in itself is a problem. But there’s another factor: an ageing society. In future, a shrinking number of young people will be working for an increasing number of old people. So it’s all the more important that productivity grows.
And that makes reforms necessary. 3/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  Often productivity improves because of innovations. But for that, it’s vital that innovations spread. This occurs, for instance, through competition: new businesses, which can produce better and at lower cost thanks to innovative methods, squeeze out older companies. The economist Joseph Schumpeter called this “creative destruction”.