Measuring productivity in transport : some lessons from studies in the U.S.A.

Improving productivity is a major issue in many, if not all, transport industries in Australia. In this regard, it is common to refer to performance measures as indicators of relative efficiency.These are usually in the form of a ratio between some measure of output or cost, and one type of input. However, these performance measures provide little in the way of rigour, lacking as they do, a strong theoretical foundation. It will be claimed in this paper that a more satisfactory account of productivity differences can be derived from the economic theory of production.