Moreover, the price fever associated with the Olympics seems to have subsided and hoteliers appear to be scaling down prices to more competitive levels, while bookings for 2005 are on the rise.
Nevertheless, the rate of productivity growth influences the economy in important ways even in the short run, affecting key variables such as the growth rate of output, employment gains, and the rate of inflation. Today I will discuss the acceleration of productivity that has occurred over the past decade and our current understanding of its causes.