Shows / The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
For two centuries, productivity growth has been the engine of rising living standards, yet the past decade has seen a perplexing slowdown. In this show, Lucas and Luna examine the forces that drive — and inhibit — long-term economic output. Each episode focuses on a specific lever: from R&D investment and education reform to infrastructure spending and the diffusion of digital technologies. They avoid political rhetoric, instead grounding every discussion in historical data and named case…
Episodes
The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic GrowthHow Standardized Paper Sizes Boost Office Productivity
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the surprisingly deep connection between standardized paper sizes and office productivity…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Standardized Time Zones Boosted Railroad Productivity
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the surprising productivity gains from the adoption of standardized time zones in the late…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The Quiet Boom of Micro-Factories in Big Cities
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the rise of micro-factories in major cities and how they're rewriting the rules of manufacturing productivity…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The Long Shadow of the 1930s on Productivity
Why does productivity growth in advanced economies look so different today? Lucas and Luna dig into the persistent slowdown that economists have been puzzling…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Japan's Telework Revolution Is Rewriting Productivity
In the summer of 2026, Japan's productivity puzzle took an unexpected turn. For decades, the country lagged behind other advanced economies in output per…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Barcode Scanning Transformed Retail Productivity
In this episode, Lucas and Luna revisit the humble barcode's outsized impact on retail productivity, from its first scan on a pack of Wrigley's gum…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How the Assembly Line Remade American Manufacturing
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how the assembly line—pioneered by Ransom Olds and perfected by Henry Ford—transformed…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How the Panama Canal Expansion Changed Global Trade
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the 2016 Panama Canal expansion reshaped global shipping and productivity. They break down the economics of the new…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Containerization Changed the Global Supply Chain
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how the standardized shipping container revolutionized global trade and productivity. They…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Barcode Scanning Transformed Retail Productivity
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the surprisingly deep economic impact of the barcode—a technology so ubiquitous we barely…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The Hidden Cost of Your Morning Commute
Every workday, millions of Americans spend nearly an hour stuck in traffic. But what does that time really cost the economy? In this episode, Lucas and Luna…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Denmark's Wind Power Won Without Subsidies
When Denmark decided to go all-in on wind energy in the 1980s, the economics looked terrible. Wind was intermittent, expensive, and far less reliable than coal…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Standardized Shipping Containers Supercharged Global Trade Productivity
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into one of the most transformative innovations in modern commerce: the standardized shipping container. They explore how…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Japan's Convenience Stores Mastered Productivity
Japanese convenience stores—konbini—have long been a model of retail efficiency. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how Seven-Eleven Japan's…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Bicycle Messenger Networks Shaped City Productivity
Before email and courier vans, the fastest thing moving through a city was a person on two wheels. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the surprisingly…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Barcode Scanning Transformed Retail Productivity
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the unlikely origin and massive economic impact of the humble barcode. From a 1974 pack of Wrigley's gum to…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How the Pneumatic Tube Cut Banking Productivity Costs
Before email or even the telegraph, the pneumatic tube was the killer app of urban communication — and in banking, it was a genuine productivity revolution. In…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Electricity Deregulation Reshaped Productivity
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how the deregulation of electricity markets in the 1990s and 2000s—particularly in the…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How the Green Revolution Reshaped Global Farming Productivity
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the Green Revolution of the mid-20th century transformed global agricultural productivity. They focus on the…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Daylight Saving Time Shapes Energy Use and Productivity
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the surprising link between daylight saving time and productivity. They trace the…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
Why Big Firms Steal the Productivity Gains
Productivity growth has been slowing for decades, but not everywhere. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the growing gap between a handful of superstar…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The Productivity Paradox of Open Source Software
Open source software powers a huge share of the global digital economy, yet its economic value is notoriously hard to measure. In this episode of The…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Electric Motors Saved the Grid
The humble electric motor consumes nearly half of the world's electricity. This episode of The Productivity Podcast explores how a century-old technology…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How the Gutenberg Press Shaped Modern Productivity
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the surprising productivity story of the printing press. They trace how Gutenberg's…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How High-Speed Rail Transformed Regional Productivity
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how high-speed rail has quietly become one of the most powerful productivity tools of the…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Denmark's Pension Funds Fueled Wind Power Productivity
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how Denmark's pension funds became the unlikely engine behind the country's wind energy boom and the…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Japan's Post Office Privatization Lifted Productivity
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dig into Japan's privatization of its postal system in 2007—a reform that aimed…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Germany's Kurzarbeit Saved Jobs During the Pandemic
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore Germany's Kurzarbeit — the short-time work scheme that kept millions employed during…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How the Interstate Highway System Supercharged US Productivity
In 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, launching the largest public works project in American history. The Interstate Highway System…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
Why Young Firms Are Disappearing and Stalling Productivity Growth
Fifty years ago, half of all U.S. firms were less than five years old. Today, it's one in three. This decline in 'business dynamism' — the…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How a Four-Day Workweek Boosted Productivity by 20 Percent
In 2018, a New Zealand trust company called Perpetual Guardian ran a bold experiment: a four-day workweek with no pay cut. The result? A 20 percent…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How the Shipping Container Cut Global Trade Costs by 97 Percent
Before containerization, loading a cargo ship cost about six dollars per ton. After the standardized steel box arrived, that cost plummeted to sixteen cents…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The Solow Paradox and What It Means for AI Productivity
In 1987, economist Robert Solow observed that computers were everywhere except in the productivity statistics. That became known as the Solow Paradox, and it…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The 17 Percent Productivity Boost from Management Consulting
In a landmark experiment, researchers offered free management consulting to 88 textile mills in Mumbai, India. The result: an average 17 percent productivity…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How the Barcode Revolutionized Retail Productivity
In 1974, a pack of Wrigley's gum became the first item ever scanned with a barcode, launching a quiet revolution in retail productivity. Lucas and Luna…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The Perry Preschool Project and Long-Term Productivity
In the 1960s, a small experiment in Ypsilanti, Michigan tracked 123 low-income children for decades. The results: every dollar invested in high-quality…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How AI Assistants Raised Call Center Productivity 14 Percent
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into a landmark study from Stanford and MIT that measured the real-world impact of generative…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The Productivity Gap Between Frontier Firms and Laggards
Why are the most productive firms racing ahead while the rest stagnate? Lucas and Luna explore the growing productivity gap between the top 10% and bottom 90%…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
The Baumol Effect Explains Rising Service Costs
Why does a college education cost twice as much today, adjusted for inflation, as it did in 1980? Why is a doctor's visit more expensive than a new TV?…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How a Mid-Size Port Cut Turnaround Time by 65 Percent
Lucas and Luna dive into the remarkable story of how the Port of Savannah, one of America's busiest container ports, slashed ship turnaround time by 65%…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How a Mid-Size Port Cut Turnaround Time by 65 Percent
Episode 129 of The Productivity Podcast digs into a remarkable operational overhaul: how the Port of Salalah in Oman slashed ship turnaround time by 65 percent…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How One City Cut Traffic Congestion by 30 Percent with Data
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into how the city of Barcelona used real-time sensor data and adaptive traffic signals to reduce congestion by 30 percent…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How One Open-Source Tool Saved Governments Billions
Episode 127 of The Productivity Podcast explores a quiet but massive productivity gain in public-sector IT: the adoption of open-source software. Lucas and…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Lean Construction Cut Building Costs by 30 Percent
Episode 126 of The Productivity Podcast dives into lean construction — a methodology borrowed from Toyota that is reshaping how buildings get built. Lucas and…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How India's Land Records Reform Unlocked Trillions in Property Value
India's land titling system has been notoriously opaque for centuries, with disputed ownership and missing records stalling economic activity. But a quiet…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Kenya's M-Pesa Transformed Mobile Money Productivity
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how Kenya's M-Pesa system revolutionized financial productivity by enabling mobile…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Danish Wind Power Cut Electricity Costs by 60 Percent
Denmark now generates over 50 percent of its electricity from wind. But the real story isn't the green energy — it's the productivity leap. Lucas and…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Mumbai's Dabbawalas Built a Productivity Miracle
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the remarkable logistics system behind Mumbai's dabbawalas — a network of 5,000…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How a German Factory Cut Setup Time by 94 Percent
Lucas and Luna dive into the story of a midsize German precision-parts manufacturer that slashed its machine setup time from 90 minutes to under six minutes…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How One City Cut Water Leaks by 70 Percent With Data
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how São Paulo, Brazil, turned a chronic water crisis into a data-driven efficiency success…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How One Chip Shortage Reshaped Auto Production
In early 2021, a single factory fire at a Renesas chip plant in Japan idled more than a million cars globally. This episode traces how a two-millimeter…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How the Panama Canal Expansion Reshaped Global Shipping
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how the Panama Canal expansion, completed in 2016, transformed global shipping…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How a Small Town in Japan Achieved Zero Waste
Episode 117 of The Productivity Podcast looks at Kamikatsu, a small Japanese town that set an audacious goal: become the first zero-waste community in Japan…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How One Canal Doubled a Country's GDP
In 1914, the Panama Canal opened and did something no other infrastructure project has ever matched: it permanently shifted global trade patterns and created…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Sweden's Industrial Robot Fleet Reshaped Manufacturing
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how Sweden built one of the world's densest robot workforces per capita and what that…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How a Japanese Farming Cooperative Digitized Rice Production
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore a fascinating case study in agricultural productivity: how Japan's largest farming…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How a Dutch Library System Cut Book Delivery Time by 80 Percent
In this episode of The Productivity Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore a surprising productivity case study from the Netherlands: how the country's public…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Singapore Automated Customs and Slashed Clearance Times
This episode examines how Singapore's National Trade Platform, NTP, transformed customs clearance from days to minutes. Launched in 2018, the system…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How a Dutch Hospital System Cut Surgery Wait Times by 40 Percent
Episode 111 of The Productivity Podcast looks at how the Netherlands' OLVG hospital group used lean manufacturing principles borrowed from Toyota to slash…
- The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How a Small Town Rebuilt Its Economy After a Factory Closing
In 2018, the town of Millinocket, Maine lost its last paper mill, the economic engine that had sustained it for over a century. This episode tells the story of…