It's not hard to think of ways in which technology has
changed society over the last couple of decades. Innovations such
as on-line shopping, Smartphones and tablets have fundamentally
altered our everyday lives.
Yet such technologies appear to have done little to raise
productivity growth and GDP growth. This is in marked contrast to
previous waves of technology, such as the application of steam
power and electrical power, which lifted recorded rates of GDP
growth.
Growth rates are, of course, a product of numerous factors, of
which technology is but one. But it is striking that growth in the
richest nations of the world, those where new technology takes root
first, has slowed in the last 25 years.
