什麼是生產力

經濟學中指生產成品與生產該產品所需投入物之間的比率。雖然生產力的計算因土地或資本難以計算而很少真正把它們加入計算，但在原則上任何傳統的生產要素（土地、勞動力或資本）都可被用作這一生產比率的分母。勞動力在多數情況下很容易計算，如可用某一產品佔有的勞動者數量來計算。在工業國家中，生產力提高的結果主要表現在勞動力的使用上。生產力不僅可以被視為有效的計量方法，還是經濟發展的一個指標。從原始採集經濟發展成技術上較複雜的經濟時，生產力會提高。歐洲和美國生產力的提高是伴隨着蒸汽、鐵路和汽油發動機等技術的發展而產生的。生產力的提高一般會長期提高工人的實際工資。

productivity

In economics, a measure of productive efficiency calculated as the ratio of what is produced to what is required to produce it. Any of the traditional factors of production—land, labor, or capital—can be used as the denominator of the ratio, though productivity calculations are actually seldom made for land or capital since their capacity is difficult to measure. Labor is in most cases easily quantified—for example, by counting workers engaged on a particular product. In industrial nations, the effects of increasing productivity are shown most clearly in the use of labor. Productivity can be seen not only as a measure of efficiency but also as an indicator of economic development. Productivity increases as a primitive extractive economy develops into a technologically sophisticated one. The pattern of increase typically exhibits long-term stability interrupted by sudden leaps that represent major technological advances. Productivity in Europe and the U.S. made great strides following the development of such technologies as the steam power, the railroad, and the gasoline motor. Increases in productivity tend to lead to long-term increases in real wages.