How can we increase output per worker in countries like India and China where it is particularly low? Anant Nyshadham discusses one way to do so: by improving the physical work environment. When garment manufacturing firms in India changed their lighting system to a more energy-efficient one, the ambient temperature on the factory floor reduced by 2.5^oC. This decrease resulted in an improvement in the output per worker. Moreover, the gains in productivity are five times the energy cost savings the firm is getting from the efficient lighting.

This research was conducted thanks to funding from the PEDL programme [2]. To know more about the project, please click here [3].