Productivity growth and class struggle in a growth regime framework: A proposal for a varieties of productivity regimes approach applied to Germany and the US from 1991 to 2022

Scrutinizing post-Keynesian theory of endogenous technical progress and Régulation Theory, this paper examines productivity growth and its variation within capitalist economies. The aim is to identify how institutions steer productivity growth. Based on the vast literature demonstrating that institutions not only have a direct impact on the innovative environment but also affect productivity growth by changing distribution and demand, an analytical framework that distinguishes between these direct and indirect effects is derived. Applying this method to Germany and the US from 1991 to 2022, we find that Germany was characterized by a laborled productivity regime, while the US exhibited a state-led productivity regime. This finding explains the more substantial decline in productivity growth in Germany - which was due to changes in the wage-labor nexus -, as compared to the US, where public investment stabilized productivity growth.