Ask the expert on… what is productivity?

Do we need to rethink how we measure productivity in the age of digital technologies and AI?

Productivity is a fundamental measure of how effectively people, firms and places transform resources into improved living standards. Diane Coyle talks about why understanding productivity depends on improved economic measurement, including more accurate valuation of intangible, natural and digital capital. She also explains why the effects of technologies such as digitalisation and AI remain difficult to capture in traditional statistics, with significant implications for policy and how we judge economic progress.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy, University of Cambridge

For more information on the topic:

• Diane Coyle (2025) The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters, Princeton University Press.
• Diane Coyle (2025), Old Wine in New Digital Bottles: The Challenges of Measuring the Digital Economy. Review of Income and Wealth, 71.
• Stephen Roper and Chander Velu (2026) Adoption, implementation, alignment – maximising the performance benefits of digital investment, Productivity Insights Paper No. 084, The Productivity Institute.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Will hybrid and flexible work help or hurt productivity and wellbeing?
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Industrial policy, institutions and fiscal mechanisms.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Productivity and well-being.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Science and Innovation Policy for Hard Times.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Books Festival: Diane Coyle & Jan Mischke.

About Productivity Puzzles:

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.