TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hall,Robert E.
AU  - Jones,Charles I.
TI  - The Productivity of Nations
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5812
PY  - 1996
Y2  - November 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5812
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5812.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robert E. Hall
Hoover Institution
Stanford University
Stanford, CA  94305-6010
Tel: 650/723-2215
E-Mail: rehall@gmail.com

Charles I. Jones
Graduate School of Business
Stanford University
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94305-4800
Tel: 510/288-8650
Fax: 650/725-0468
E-Mail: chad.jones@stanford.edu
AB  - Output per worker varies enormously across countries.  Why? Our analysis shows that differences in governmental, cultural, and natural infrastructure are important sources of this variation. According to our results, a high-productivity country (i) has institutions that favor production over diversion, (ii) is open to international trade, (iii) has at least some private ownership, (iv) speaks an international language, and (v) is located in a temperate latitude far from the equator.  A favorable infrastructure helps a country both by stimulating the accumulation of human and physical capital and by raising its total factor productivity.
ER  -