Leading economist Chad Syverson speculates about the ingredients in productivity’s secret sauce.

In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush talks with Chad Syverson. Syverson is George C. Tiao Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His work focuses on the interactions between firm structure, market structure, and productivity.

In this podcast, he covers topics including the following: 

• Why productivity is important
• How the world economy is doing on productivity
• What major themes of our age, from the path to net zero to trade fragmentation and aging, could impact productivity
• The potential role of AI to change the game for productivity
• How productivity growth is diffused