ABSTRACT
In the second part of the 1990s, the experience of large differences in the rates of GNP and TFP (Total Factor Productivity)growth between the USA and Europe has generated a debate on the existence and on the role of the so-called ‘new economy’. Gordon (2000), for example, argues that the increases in productivity have been occurring only in the computer industry. Jorgenson (2001) claims that the expansionary phase of the US economy was linked to the dynamics of the semiconductor industry. The available empirical evidence shows, however, that the massive introduction of new technologies, in particular the so-called ICTs, has determined two different effects: an increase of productivity in the computer sector and an important increase in TFP linked to new organizational models of the firm, the use of more skilled human capital and new workplace practices (Brynjolfsson and Hitt, 2000).
