The Malmquist Index (MI) is a bilateral index that can be used to compare the production technology of two economies. It is named after Professor Sten Malmquist, on whose ideas it is based. It is also called the Malmquist Productivity Index.
The MI is based on the concept of the Production function. This is a function of maximum possible production, with respect to a set of inputs pertaining to capital and labour. So, if is the set of labour and capital inputs to the production function of Economy A, and is the production function of Economy A, we could write .
While the production function would normally apply to an enterprise, it is possible to calculate it for an entire region or nation. This would be called the aggregate production function.