Science, Tech, Math › Social Sciences The Meaning of Total Factor Productivity Share Flipboard Email Print Thomas Barwick/Stone/Getty Images Social Sciences Economics U.S. Economy Employment Supply & Demand Psychology Sociology Archaeology Ergonomics Maritime By Econterms Updated April 10, 2019 Conceptually, total factor productivity refers to how efficiently and intensely inputs are used in the production process. Total factor productivity (TFP) is sometimes referred to as "multi-factor productivity," and, under certain assumptions, can be thought of as a measure of level of technology or knowledge. Formula for TFP Given the macro model: Yt = ZtF(Kt,Lt), Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is defined to be Yt/F(Kt,Lt) Likewise, given Yt = ZtF(Kt,Lt,Et,Mt), TFP is Yt/F(Kt,Lt,Et,Mt) The Solow residual is a measure of TFP. TFP presumably changes over time. There is disagreement in the literature over the question of whether the Solow residual measures technology shocks. Efforts to change the inputs, like Kt, to adjust for utilization rate and so forth, have the effect of changing the Solow residual and thus the measure of TFP. But the idea of TFP is well defined for each model of this kind. TFP is not necessarily a measure of technology since the TFP could be a function of other things like military spending, or monetary shocks, or the political party in power. "Growth in total-factor productivity (TFP) represents output growth not accounted for by the growth in inputs." — Hornstein and Krusell (1996). Effects on TFP Disease, crime, and computer viruses have small negative effects on TFP using almost any measure of K and L, although with absolutely perfect measures of K and L they might disappear. Reason: crime, disease, and computer viruses make people AT WORK less productive. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Econterms. "The Meaning of Total Factor Productivity." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/total-factor-productivity-definition-1147262. Econterms. (2020, August 26). The Meaning of Total Factor Productivity. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/total-factor-productivity-definition-1147262 Econterms. "The Meaning of Total Factor Productivity." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/total-factor-productivity-definition-1147262 (accessed January 25, 2021). copy citation