Second, assuming favourable macro-economic conditions, McKinsey reckons that annual productivity growth of 6% can be sustained.

ECONOMIST: Measuring productivity

McKinsey reckons that, on average, foreign hypermarkets are making 3.3% operating profit, while locals are making 0.9%.

ECONOMIST: It's tough but worth it

McKinsey reckons that better organisation and lay-out of factories could shave another 35% off the productivity gap.

ECONOMIST: Measuring productivity

McKinsey reckons that India can double its growth in labour productivity to 8% a year and increase capital productivity by 50%.

ECONOMIST: Why India's economy needs faster privatisation

The other consists of distortions of the land market, such as badly defined titles and rent controls, which McKinsey reckons reduce growth by 1.3 percentage points a year.

ECONOMIST: Why India's economy needs faster privatisation

Perhaps surprisingly, there is little work on the macroeconomic effect of all the extra women who have entered the labour force over the past four decades, but McKinsey reckons that America's GDP is now about 25% higher than it would have been without them.

ECONOMIST: Closing the gap

In both France and Germany, reckons McKinsey, the expense of financial advisers means that it currently costs more to advise the typical mass-affluent customer than his investments give back in fees.

ECONOMIST: Banking for the well-off

Even without the huge falls in asset prices, reckons David Hunt, a consultant at McKinsey, the fundamental economics of the asset-management business have deteriorated.

ECONOMIST: Fund management

Diana Farrell, who is now a member of America's National Economic Council but until recently worked for McKinsey, a consultancy that has spent a lot of time studying the middle classes, reckons they begin at roughly the point where people have a third of their income left for discretionary spending after providing for basic food and shelter.

ECONOMIST: Burgeoning bourgeoisie | The