Productivity in Asia : economic growth and competitiveness The outstanding economic performance of East Asian countries has been investigated in numerous studies. However most comparative studies analyze macro level productivity. In this book the productivity performance of China Korea Japan Taiwan and the United States are compared at industry level. The work is a result of an international collaborative research project by RIETI (Research Institute of Economy Trade and Industry) Japan. The total factor productivity growth and level amongst these five countries sheds new light on the industrial competitiveness of growing Asian economies compared to Japan and the United States. In addition this book provides detailed information on productivity datasets for these five countries 1. Introduction 2. Investigating productivity slowdown in the 1990s by using the KLEM database in Japan 3. The sources of growth of US industries 4. Total factor productivity growth in Chinese industries 1981 2000 5. Growth accounting and productivity analysis by 33 industrial sectors in Korea (1984 2002) 6. Industry wide total factor productivity and output growth in Taiwan 1981 1999 7. Purchasing power parities for international comparisons of output and productivity in Japan South Korea Taiwan and the United States 8. Assessing Japans industrial competitiveness by international productivity level : comparison with China Korea Taiwan and the United States.