The collection of papers in this book gives a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in the measurement and explanation of productivity differences. The contributions compare productivity developments in an international perspective not only between advanced countries in the OECD area but also with (former) planned economies in eastern Europe. The book includes comparisons among industrial, service and other sectors of the economy. Three different approaches to productivity measurement have been adopted: statistical comparisons of growth rates, statistical comparisons of relative levels and productivity case studies. Within each of these a wide variety of quantitative and qualitative factors is examined to explain differences at the macro, meso and micro level. These include physical capital intensity and growth, human capital (training, education, management, work organisation), R&D, product quality, globalisation and competition. Legal and social factors are taken into account as well as the problem of transfer pricing. Finally, the papers in this volume provide important information about the explanatory factors behind the catch-up and convergence process and about the underlying production processes and types of products in measuring the impact of technology diffusion.