Partly this may be due to increased managerial efficiency, but a more likely explanation is to be found in the policy changes designed to make the BIS Review 119/1999  2  economy more flexible and competitive - in other words, policies designed to affect the supply side of the economy.
Among these I include financial market deregulation, tariff reductions, privatisations, competition policy and decentralisation of the labour market. These have all made a contribution, but it is probably the interaction between them that is more important; in this sense, the total effect is more than the sum of the parts.