U.S. labor and total-factor productivity growth slowed after the early- to mid-2000s in aggregate, industry, and regional data. The broad-based nature of the slowdown, and its timing, rules out simple stories related to housing and finance before the recession, or to effects of the recession...

We show that the welfare of a countrys infinitely-lived representative consumer is summarized, to a first order, by total factor productivity (TFP) and by the capital stock per capita. These variables suffice to calculate welfare changes within a country, as well as welfare differences across...