Productivity is measured in cash value produced per hour.<p>So, what happens when the products people make get cheaper? I daresay filling station employees have declining productivity right now under that measure even if they pump more gas than a couple of years ago.<p>The people at Micron &#x2F; Crucial are similarly less productive. I can buy a shiny new 4GiB RAM stick for $20, when two years ago it was $80.  It&#x27;s just as good, and that company is a good one. But still, their products have less cash content to them.<p>In a decade when energy cost&#x2F;use patterns are in flux, are we mismeasuring productivity? In an age when human population is very high indeed, does it makes sense to use a productivity metric that encourages more-more-more?<p>I wonder if it makes sense to measure productivity using some longer-term measure? How many hours must a person work to gain an hour of artificial light at night? (There was a study about this a few years back, but I can&#x27;t find it.) The advent of LED lamps and solar charging has caused this measure of productivity to soar, especially in developing cultures.