But Ben Broadbent thinks it is increasingly hard to put it all down to a shortage of demand.

BBC: The UK productivity puzzle (cont'd)

Ben Broadbent, from the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, has a good go at this in his latest speech.

BBC: The UK productivity puzzle (cont'd)

Sir Mervyn appeared at the committee along with Bank official Paul Fisher and monetary policy committee members Martin Weale and Ben Broadbent.

BBC: Treasury Committee: Sir Mervyn warns of EU deleveraging

These cost pressures suggest that the increase in unemployment is structural rather than cyclical, according to Ben Broadbent, an economist at Goldman Sachs.

ECONOMIST: Inflation and interest rates

Britain is far less exposed to a run on its banks by foreign depositors than Iceland was, says Ben Broadbent, an economist at Goldman Sachs.

ECONOMIST: The pound��s plunge is hurting, but pain is part of the remedy

Earnings growth could comfortably recover to 4.5% a year without posing a risk to inflation, says Ben Broadbent, an economist at Goldman Sachs, an investment bank.

ECONOMIST: Labour market

Ben Broadbent's explanation is worth reading in full.

BBC: The UK productivity puzzle (cont'd)

The report's author, analyst Ben Broadbent, noted that a 0.9% reduction in UK manufacturing output in January was the sharpest fall since August 1997, and the high-tech sector was to blame for most of the drop.

BBC: Hi-tech slowdown threatens UK

Another study by Ben Broadbent, an economist at Goldman Sachs, suggests that consumers in the euro zone have also benefited much less from the outsourcing of production to low-cost countries than have consumers in America or Britain, who have enjoyed a sharp decline in the price of clothes in recent years.

ECONOMIST: The halo effect | The