New Series for GDP Per Capita, Per Worker, and Per Worker-Hour in Portugal, 1950-2007

Abstract

The two most important international databases with Portuguese GDP per capita and productivity from the 1950s onwards (GGDC and Ameco) offer two contrasting pictures of the evolution of the economy, especially during the slowdown period between 1973 and the mid-1980s. The main problem is the low quality of the underlying population and employment data. This paper offers new estimates for population and employment and recalculates GDP per capita and productivity between 1950 and 2007. Although confirming the main idea carried by GGDC (a similar slowdown of GDP per capita and productivity), the series are different and should be viewed as the new benchmark for the Portuguese economy.